Orson Welles War of the worlds Experiment?

I was just reading about the old radio show that panicked the United States.

On October 30th, 1938, the United States experienced mass hysteria--most pronounced on the east coast in New York and New Jersey--in response to a radio broadcast put on by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater On The Air. The public reaction has prompted decades of research into mass hysteria, been used as a model by the military around the world to design information warfare against enemy troops and civilian populace, and used as the most compelling reason to protect the public from the knowledge of the presence of aliens on Earth.

The source

From what this website is saying it was just a big experiment. I believe it was to see if we were ready for the truth about the existence of aliens and we failed!

What do you think?

AlBeMeT

I think that Orson Welles was a genuis but he could not see what impact his play would have. The main reason the War of the worlds generated so much panic in the public is that he presented it as a news bulletin.
For that, I place him along side with George Orwell and his 1984 novel.
But I don't think it was some kind of experiment. Just a genius at play