Donald Keyhoe - Later Life

Later Life

NICAP's membership plummeted in the late 1960s, and Keyhoe faced charges of incompetence and authoritarianism. By 1969 Keyhoe turned his focus away from the military and focused on the CIA as the source of the UFO cover up. NICAP's board, headed by Colonel Joseph Bryan III, forced Keyhoe to retire as NICAP chief. Under Bryan's leadership, the NICAP disbanded its local and state affiliate groups, and by 1973 it had been completely closed.

In 1973, Keyhoe wrote his final book about UFO's, Aliens from Space. It promoted "Operation Lure", a plan to entice extraterrestrials to land on Earth, and described the problems Keyhoe had getting information from government agents.

Beyond this book, Keyhoe had little contact with ufology as he settled into retirement. He did, however, speak at a few UFO conferences after his ouster from NICAP. In 1981 he joined MUFON's board of directors, but his membership was essentially in name only due to declining health, and he had little to do with the organization. He died in 1988 at the age of 91. He was buried in Green Hill Cemetery in Luray, Virginia.

Several of Keyhoe's books are now in the public domain and are available online.