The Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs

In 1960, the Brookings Institution warned NASA that information about alien life had the power to either unify the world or throw it into absolute chaos. A new presidential hopeful emerged and threatened to put an end to the government's era of silence and secrecy. One evening in the late 1960s, Jimmy Carter was standing outside a Lions Club in southwest Georgia when he saw a bright light zooming through the night. He watched the glowing object as it flew towards him and then paused, hovering just above the horizon. At least a dozen other people from the Lions Club noticed the bizarre glowing orb too. But before Carter could wonder if it was trying to impart some sort of patriotic message, the light zipped