From: Richard Hall <hallrichard99@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 22:41:04 +0000
Fwd Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 11:03:18 -0500
Subject: Re: Hynek? - Hall


 >From: Jerome Clark <jkclark@frontiernet.net>
 >To: <UFOupdates@virtuallystrange.net>
 >Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 12:10:58 -0600
 >Subject: Re: Hynek? - Clark

 >>From: Jerry Cohen <rjcohen@optonline.net>
 >>To: ufoupdates@virtuallystrange.net
 >>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 05:12:05 -0500
 >>Subject: Re: Hynek? - Cohen [Re-send]

 >>>From: Laurel Oplatka <calabash2003@webtv.net>
 >>>Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 17:23:11 -0800 (PST)
 >>>Fwd Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:24:28 -0500
 >>>Subject: Hynek?

 >>>Oh yes I did have one more question, and I hope it's not really
 >>>naive, but is it the general consensus of opinion among
 >>>researchers here that Hynek was respected and well thought of,
 >>>or were his "findings" considered to be somehow "suspect" or
 >>>tied in with some specific agenda?

 >I don't know what this question means. What is a "specific
 >agenda"? Allen Hynek's "specific agenda," if you want to call it
 >that, was to argue that science had shamefully neglected UFO
 >study and that Blue Book's explanations for sightings were often
 >highly wrong. He wrote what is arguably the single finest book
 >on the subject, The UFO Experience. There were no hidden
 >motives.

 >By nature Hynek was a nonconfrontational man, which drove James
 >McDonald nuts. McDonald judged Hynek too cautious, even too
 >opportunistic (he complained that Allen had accepted Blue Book's
 >consulting fees for years before giving voice to criticism of
 >the project's many failures). But Allen was not the sort of man
 >who enjoyed getting in anybody's face. When he finally acted and
 >spoke out, it was because he simply couldn't tolerate what he
 >was seeing any longer. He also knew he would be on the receiving
 >end of ridicule, and he was. He made his share of mistakes, as
 >all scientists and other humans do and probably he should have
 >stepped forward earlier. But he acted, finally, with courage and
 >out of principle.

 >Jerry Clark

Jerry & List,

As a close personal friend and colleague of Jim McDonald, and
first an adversary (during his USAF years) and then a colleague
of Allen Hynek, I agree completely with what Jerry says here.
Different people have different motivations and what I like to
call "personal devils" that influence how they perform. I
admired--even loved--Jim McDonald. However, I came to respect
Allen Hynek and to be more tolerant of differing personal styles
and how they affect human interactions. Allen clearly was a
talented and principled advocate who, in the last words I heard
him speak, vowed to dedicate the rest of his life to an attempt
to persuade scientists to take UFOs seriously.

  - Dick