Buzz
On the night of July 19, 1952, an unusual event unfolded in the skies above Washington, D.C., continuing into the early morning hours of July 20.
Air traffic controllers observed objects appearing on their radar screens and flying over restricted airspace near the White House and the Capitol. “It moved erratically, back and forth,” one air traffic controller later recalled. “We knew it wasn’t a plane, because planes fly in a straight line. But the signal was strong, just like an aircraft.” A Capital Airlines pilot reported seeing six swift-moving lights with “no tail, no discernible shape… only bright lights in the dark sky” for about 14 minutes. Air Force radar also detected the objects, but they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Jets scrambled to investigate, but found nothing.
At the time, UFOs were a trending topic in the U.S., partly due to an article titled “Have We Visitors From Space?” published in the April 1952 issue of LIFE magazine. The events in Washington, D.C. would later be described as “the peak of the 1952 flap,” as noted by Curtis Peebles in Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the UFO Myth, sparking a heightened obsession with flying saucers. “Unidentified flying objects became a major public interest then,” Mark Rodeghier, scientific director for the Center for UFO Studies, told The New York Times in 2018. “It was a concern like never before.”
The media erupted in excitement. One headline screamed, “SAUCERS SWARM OVER CAPITAL,” drawing attention to the incident that captured the nation’s—and even the world’s—interest.
These sensational headlines may have prompted evangelical minister Reverend Louis A. Gardner to write to physicist Albert Einstein, seeking his opinion on flying saucers. Did he believe the saucers were from space—perhaps from Mars or Venus, Gardner wondered? Or were UFOs the result of military technology experiments, possibly crafted by the U.S. Air Force or foreign enemies?
By this point in his career, Einstein had become one of the most celebrated scientists worldwide. He had formulated his theory of general relativity, received the Nobel Prize in Physics, spoken out against racism in America, and persuaded former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt to initiate nuclear research, which later contributed to the creation of the Manhattan Project (a decision he would later regret). Despite having technically retired in 1945, he continued his research at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study.
Einstein, being a prominent figure and incredibly busy, could have easily dismissed Gardner’s inquiry. However, he did respond, sending a letter on July 23, 1952, using letterhead from the Institute for Advanced Study.
Einstein’s View on Flying Saucers. | University of Southern California/GettyImages“Dear Sir,” Einstein wrote. “Those people have seen something. What it is, I do not know and am not interested in knowing. Sincerely, Albert Einstein.”
This is an intriguing reply from a man who was known for his passion for curiosity. As he once remarked, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Just a few months before Gardner’s letter, Einstein told his biographer, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
Despite whatever his reasons were for not being curious about the phenomena people were witnessing in the skies, Einstein’s brief response to Gardner made headlines across the United States. (Some publications even included images of a delighted Gardner holding the letter.) “Saucers Not Einstein’s Dish,” one headline cleverly read. Another ran, “Curious About Sky Disks? Not ‘The Brain.’”
Reverend Louis A. Gardner proudly holds his letter from Einstein. | University of Southern California/GettyImagesThe news also reported more UFO sightings over Washington, D.C. on July 26 and 27. Radar detected up to 14 objects in the sky. One sergeant at Andrews Air Force Base described seeing “a bluish white light move… at an incredible rate of speed… These lights didn’t resemble shooting stars. They left no trails and seemed to fade out rather than vanish, traveling faster than any shooting star I’ve ever seen.”
The Air Force received an unprecedented 500 UFO reports that month. They denied that any of the sightings were related to their own aircraft, attributing the events—later dubbed “the Washington Invasion”—to weather conditions and meteors. However, those who had witnessed the phenomenon firsthand and die-hard believers remained unconvinced.
