Gordon Cooper: Revisited

update -- with help from new friends in France, I have located the original French article from which this famous Cooper quote was translated, I'll publish full analysis here, shortly. Published Aug 1973.

The latest attempt to find Benny Manocchia, who conducted the interview in 1973 and claims to have tape recorded it, has also ended in failure. The trail runs cold in Putnam County, New York, not long ago.

Here's where I need help -- documentation of an international UFO conference in NYC in early-mid-1973 that Cooper attended. If we can verify that, it gives credence to what seems to be the first public statement ever on UFOs by Cooper.

originally posted by: JimOberg
I made some more effort to track down
BENNY MANOCCHIA and his 1973-era tape of the first-ever Gordon Cooper on-the-record UFO interview.

There was one recent repeat of it, attributed to Manocchia, but in Portuguese, that is essentially the same set of quotes we already have, BUT one additional sentence after the Cooper claim he personally saw a Florida landing site of a 4-legged UFO: "Ed White e James McDivitt Em Junho de 1965, os astronautas Ed White (primeiro Americano a andar no espaço) e James McDivitt estavam passando".

google translate: Ed White and James McDivitt In June 1965 , astronauts Ed White ( first American to walk in space ) and James McDivitt were passing.

I'm interpreting this to mean that Cooper's visit to the UFO landing site was during the June 1965 flight of the two other astronauts.

That's additional information, important information. I sure would like to get the entire transcript, if I can get a hold of Manocchia.

Here's some more about the French article that is the source of both the Cooper quotation above, and the quotation used by Columbia Pictures to promote CE3K in 1977, that Cooper sued them over, for fraud.

Article here:
cjoint.com...
document nostra-1

Un témoignage qui bouleverse même les plus skeptiques
GORDON COOPER un des plus celebres astronauts brise le mur du silence

Des êtres intelligents, venus d’autres planets, visitent réguliérement notre globe et cherchent à entrer en contact avec nous. J’ai rencontre\ plusieurs de leurs engines au cours de mes voyages intersidèraux. La N.A.S.A. et le government amèricain le savant. Ils posse\dent même de nombreuses preuves. Pourtant ils continuent à garder le silence. C’est, sans doute, pour ne pas alarmer les populations. Mais je suis bien décidé, moi, dire tout ce que je sais, car ce , finalement, est terriblement néfaste.

Here is my translation of this:

Intelligent beings from other planets, regularly visit our globe and try to get in touch with us. I met several of their craft during my space travels. The N.A.S.A. and the US government know this. They even possess ample evidence. Yet they continue to remain silent. This is probably not to alarm the population. But I am determined to speak of all I know, because this , finally, is terribly harmful. -- An international conference on UFOs in New York City…

Here's the quotation Columbia Pictures used:

“Intelligent beings from other planets regularly visit our world in an effort to enter into contact with us.. NASA and the American government know this and possess a great deal of evidence. Nevertheless, they remain silent in order not to alarm people. .. I am dedicated to forcing the authorities to end their silence.
-- Gordon Cooper, astronaut, at a UFO conference in New York

So far, there is no record of any 'original English' version, from which the French version was translated, and then translated BACK into English in slightly different ways.

Such an 'original English transcript' may not even exist -- the entire transcript may be a fraud, written by the French paranormnal magazine itself.

A French ufologist going by the screen name "Oncle Dom", who has got one of the biggest collection of UFO books and magazine, offered this opinion about the French magazine: "It's not serious at all, devoted to the paranormal, with big letters in color. The devil exists, curses exist, ghosts exist, miracles exist, AND ET visits us, etc ... Credibility = 0 Cheers!"

What's also interesting about this French magazine in 1973 is that there are MORE paragraphs allegedly transcribed directly from a taped interview with Cooper.

None of them correspond to any ideas or accounts that Cooper himself later put in his own autobiography, 'Leap of Faith'. This strongly suggests that all of the material was fictional, and this is supported by the fact that Cooper sued Columbia Pictures of their use of a translation of the first paragraph of the article, falsely attributed as his actual words.

Here are the other paragraphs allegedly in cooper's own words, translated by me:

Le plus grave est que l’ignorance dans laquelle on nous maintient nous interdit de répondre aux signaux de ces visiteurs. Or, il est évident que nous sommes en présence d’êtres intelligent et qu’ils cherchent à communiquer avec nous. Ils est navrant que les soient toujours tenues pour des sujets de plaisanterie. Alors que l’enjeu est immense: il s’agit, avant tout, de sauver notre monde, de lui ouvrir une sèrie de contacts, puis de relations plus importantes, avec des originaires d’autres planètes proches ou lointaines.

The most serious is that ignorance is maintained which prohibits us to respond to signals from these visitors. However, it is clear that we are dealing with intelligent beings and they are trying to communicate with us. It is heartbreaking that “flying saucers” are still used as joke subjects. But yet the stakes are huge: it is above all to save our world, to open a sèries of contacts, and then more significant relationships with those originating on other planets near and far.

Or, si nous n’essayons pas de faire immédiatement quelque chose dans ce sens, demain il sera trop tard. Nous avons affaire, c’est l’évidence même, à des représentants de civilizations de niveau trés élevé, en avance de plusieurs siécles sur la nôtre. Eux seuls peuvent sauver notre vieux monde de l’apocalypse qui le guette.

But if we do not try to do something immediately in this direction, tomorrow will be too late. What we have is the obvious, the evidence of representatives of very high civilizations, ahead of ours by several centuries. They alone can save our old world from the Apocalypse looming on ..

Car, j’en suis convincu, nous courons au désastre si nous ne sommes pas aidés par des intelligences supérieures. Notre terre est en train de s’étouffer lentement mais inexorablement. Un jour, il nous faudra regarder vers le ciel et découvrir d’autres mondes à colonizer. Sinon, nous serons tous terrassés par la faim, la soif, la maladie. Regardez le Japon: ce pays préfigure ce qui nous attend tous dans quelques dizaines d’années seulement. Quand nous en serons à un tel stade, notre seul recours sera de voyager dans le ciel à la recherché de patries nouvelles. Nos conunissances scientifiques et techniques sont encore insufficientes pour nous permettre de construire les vaisseaux interstellaires qui nous permettraient d’atteindre d’autres galaxies. Or, nous pourrions recevoir de l’aide de ces extra-terrestres dont on s’obstine a nous cacher l’existence.

For I am convinced we running to disaster if we are not helped by higher intelligences. Our Earth is choking slowly but inexorably. One day, we will look to the sky and discover other worlds to colonize. Otherwise, we will all be overcome by hunger, thirst, disease. Look at Japan: the country foreshadows what awaits us all in a few decades only. When we get to that stage, our only recourse is to travel into the sky in search of new homes. Our scientific and technical know-how is still insufficient to allow us to build spaceships that would allow us to reach other galaxies. Or, we could receive help from these aliens which we persist in hiding existence of.

Les soucoupes volant sont une réalité, je ne cesserai plus de le répéter. Je suis décidé à contraindre les autorités à sortir de leur mutisme. Le public doit être prépare’ dès aujourd’hui, aux contacts nouveaux qui, tôt ou tard, seront forcés d’intervenir. Notre salut à tous en dépend.

Flying saucers are real, I will not stop repeating it. I am determined to force the authorities to break their silence. The public must be prepared from today, for new contacts which, sooner or later, they will be forced to intervene. Our salvation depends on it all.

Needed now:

Details of Cooper's 1977 lawsuit in Los Angeles against Columbia Pictures

Any information about an 'international UFO conference' in New York City in the first half of 1973, where Cooper attended and spoke.

The reason this issue is tantalizing is that the 1973 article MAY BE the first published account of Cooper's belief in UFOs, a belief which was later thoroughly documented. So that much, at least, IS accurate.

If the actual quotations are accurate, then they serve as a record of how much Cooper's UFO stories varied over time -- another important feature.

Either way, I've always felt this needs deeper investigation.

But I need some help.

Here's a 1980 Interview with Gordon Cooper (excerpt) that precisely discusses the lawsuit and the false statement.

www.ufoevidence.org...
Excerpt of interview with Gordon Cooper: OMNI, March 1980, p. 106

I've always been honest about my views on this subject. Because the astronauts have been so badly misquoted by irresponsible journalists, it's up to each of us to say what he believes in. I'm engaged in a lawsuit against people who used my name for a commercial venture, quoting me to the effect that I'm dedicated to forcing the government to tell the truth about UFOs. I never said that at all. If any UFO information is being suppressed, it's certainly not in the U.S. Air Force, because I was at a high enough level to know about it.

Here's the quote from Columbia Pictures:

“Intelligent beings from other planets regularly visit our world in an effort to enter into contact with us.. NASA and the American government know this and possess a great deal of evidence. Nevertheless, they remain silent in order not to alarm people. .. I am dedicated to forcing the authorities to end their silence.
-- Gordon Cooper, astronaut, at a UFO conference in New York

Thirty years after Cooper's lawsuit against Columbia Pictures using a bogus quotation attributed to him, they are doing it again in on-line ads for the BluRay edition:

www.blu-ray.com...

I guess they know they can get away with it and their target audience is defenseless.

a reply to: JimOberg

I take it that this is the bogus quotation

"Intelligent beings from other planets regularly visit our world in an effort to enter into contact with us...NASA and the American government know this and possess a great deal of evidence. Nevertheless, they remain silent in order not to alarm people...I am dedicated to forcing the authorities to end their silence." — Gordon Cooper, astronaut, at a UFO conference.

So how do you tell a bogus Cooper quote from something that Cooper said that was bogus?

originally posted by: ZetaRediculian...
So how do you tell a bogus Cooper quote from something that Cooper said that was bogus?

With great care.

If you can trace it back to something Cooper said or wrote, it's an authentic quote, whether what he said was true or not.

The 1973 French quotes, in their entirety, are so at variance with later Cooper comments, that my assessed likelihood of total hoax is already at 98% and heading north.

Except... except... It was 1973, and AFAIK Cooper hadn't yet come out as the UFO believer he actually was, so HOW did the French hoaxer know to pick on HIM among other retired astronauts?

a reply to: JimOberg

Except... except... It was 1973, and AFAIK Cooper hadn't yet come out as the UFO believer he actually was, so HOW did the French hoaxer know to pick on HIM among other retired astronauts?

That is curious. Could it be that Cooper saw how much attention the bogus quote got him and liked it? When did he first come out with the UFO stories?

I've tried, but can't locate a 1973 New York City UFO conference.
Was the whole thing made up, or is it possible the date or location is in error?

originally posted by: CardDown
I've tried, but can't locate a 1973 New York City UFO conference.

Was the whole thing made up, or is it possible the date or location is in error?

My estimate of the date is based on the August 1973 article's reference to a 'recent' event.

But if the quotation is fictional, so might the conference have been -- good point.

Here's the latest exchange, with Cooper's co-author on his autobiography:

here's another dead end overnight. I wrote to Cooper's co-author:

Date: Tue, December 09, 2014 10:01 pm
To: [email protected]

I'm digging into the early 1970's in Gordo Cooper's life when he first 'came out' with his UFO stories, and have found the August 1973 French magazine which contained an alleged transcript of a Cooper interview on UFOs at a NYC international UFO conference. It is the source of the quote used by Columbia Pictures to promote CE3K in 1977, and even after Cooper sued them over it, they are STILL using it. Did you ever hear anything about Cooper even attending such a conference in early 1973? Do you have any information about his lawsuit's conclusion [he described it to me in a letter in 1978]? It appears he was completely innocent in this matter and the quoted material was, as he insisted, fictitious. But how, I wonder, did the hoaxer [possibly an Italian journalist named Benny Manocchia] know of Cooper's UFO interest? The beginning of that chapter in his life remains obscure, can you cost any light into it? Thanks!

His answer:

Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:12 AM

I'm sorry, I can't. That was way before I was involved with Gordon, and we never discuss the case. I do know he had strong feelings about UFOs, the existence of ET life, etc. You probably read that in our book, Leap of Faith, yes?

originally posted by: CardDown
I've tried, but can't locate a 1973 New York City UFO conference.

Was the whole thing made up, or is it possible the date or location is in error?

If I had to guess, it sounds like something Colman von Keviczky [sp?] might have organized.

Has anybody searched Moseley's 'Saucer Smear' archives, or does this predate their appearance?

If it's entirely a hoax, how did the hoaxer have the insight to tag Cooper as the subject?

The idea that Cooper decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and jumped on a bogus bandwagon is intriguing. Thanks!

By 1975 he was on the Merv Griffin show talking up his experiences, including his 1951-era German 'UFO fleet', that only a few years earlier he had told a NICAP guy he thought 'were probably weather balloons'. So there WAS a transition in his thinking going on in that period.

a reply to: JimOberg

Jim,

I know myself I have told the same story for years, and then catching up with people who were there, over time, all our stories are a bit "different" then what happened. Can we chalk this up to a natural occurrence over time and his age?

originally posted by: Vaedur
a reply to: JimOberg

Jim,
I know myself I have told the same story for years, and then catching up with people who were there, over time, all our stories are a bit "different" then what happened. Can we chalk this up to a natural occurrence over time and his age?

I agree that could be a factor, especially as we watch the story evolve in a sequence of interviews.

Also, several of the details of his 1950s experiences seem to have become 'remembered' after he read my original investigative report in 1982, for example, the 'seed pods' explanation for the Neubiberg 1951 story.

originally posted by: JimOberg
Has anybody searched Moseley's 'Saucer Smear' archives, or does this predate their appearance?

Saucer Smear began life in 1976. Someone had to cover this conference if it happened. I found nothing in the newspaper archives I searched, but Skylook or the APRO Bulletin - somebody -would have mentioned it. It doesn't take much to make UFO news.

originally posted by: JimOberg

originally posted by: Vaedur
a reply to: JimOberg

Jim,
I know myself I have told the same story for years, and then catching up with people who were there, over time, all our stories are a bit "different" then what happened. Can we chalk this up to a natural occurrence over time and his age?

I agree that could be a factor, especially as we watch the story evolve in a sequence of interviews.

Also, several of the details of his 1950s experiences seem to have become 'remembered' after he read my original investigative report in 1982, for example, the 'seed pods' explanation for the Neubiberg 1951 story.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. It's fascinating stuff with your added information. Thanks!

Wow. This is a truly embarrassing thread, to drag an actual hero through the mud for daring to speak about the UFO situation. Some might find it quite shameful to work so hard to tarnish the character of a great man, especially one who is no longer here to defend himself. To quote Star Trek, "He's dead, Jim".

This is a common tactic of the UFO deniers: If you can't refute the message about UFOs and aliens, attack the messenger.

Mr.Oberg suggests Gordon Cooper was not telling the truth, that Gordon Cooper's recollection could not be trusted. Mr. Oberg tells you that Gordon Cooper could not be trusted with your money. So no flying saucers, no photos, no aliens.

That's funny, because here's what Mr. Oberg said about Gordon Cooper in a recent thread:

"there's this: Ed Mitchell and Gordon Cooper were right there on the astronaut team involved in moon landing training and operations. There's no way that THEY would have spent the next few decades of their lives lying about it. I've always believed they have been utterly truthful in recounting their memories"

Hmm. Quite a difference. Guess he was telling the truth and his recollection was accurate EXCEPT when he was speaking about UFOs and aliens?

To quote Mr. Oberg further, here's the end of his reply to someone questioning the veracity of Gordon Cooper: " You're the one promoting the idea that some very brave and decent human beings -- some of whom I've known for decades -- are the greatest falsifiers and misleaders in human history -- all to please your own ego, perhaps. They aren't here to debunk the smears, so I will."

Oh, Irony...

Gordon Cooper isn't here to debunk Jim Oberg's smears, so I will.

originally posted by: Scdfa
Wow. This is a truly embarrassing thread, to drag an actual hero through the mud for daring to speak about the UFO situation. Some might find it quite shameful to work so hard to tarnish the character of a great man, especially one who is no longer here to defend himself. To quote Star Trek, "He's dead, Jim".

This is a common tactic of the UFO deniers: If you can't refute the message about UFOs and aliens, attack the messenger.

Mr.Oberg suggests Gordon Cooper was not telling the truth, that Gordon Cooper's recollection could not be trusted. Mr. Oberg tells you that Gordon Cooper could not be trusted with your money. So no flying saucers, no photos, no aliens.

That's funny, because here's what Mr. Oberg said about Gordon Cooper in a recent thread:

"there's this: Ed Mitchell and Gordon Cooper were right there on the astronaut team involved in moon landing training and operations. There's no way that THEY would have spent the next few decades of their lives lying about it. I've always believed they have been utterly truthful in recounting their memories"

Hmm. Quite a difference. Guess he was telling the truth and his recollection was accurate EXCEPT when he was speaking about UFOs and aliens?

To quote Mr. Oberg further, here's the end of his reply to someone questioning the veracity of Gordon Cooper: " You're the one promoting the idea that some very brave and decent human beings -- some of whom I've known for decades -- are the greatest falsifiers and misleaders in human history -- all to please your own ego, perhaps. They aren't here to debunk the smears, so I will."

Oh, Irony...

Gordon Cooper isn't here to debunk Jim Oberg's smears, so I will.

Thanks for making the effort, but you seem to have confused 'debunking' with 'blind denial'.

What I've been doing is digging out contemporary, corroborative evidence in testimony and documentation relative to the credibility of stories told by Cooper in his later years, years following his performance-related easing out of the astronaut corps and his growing estrangement with the aerospace community over his abuse of the respect he'd earned as an original astronaut. It is not a pretty story but is one written originally by Cooper's own actions and statements, however deeply you insist on keeping your head in the ground.

Any statement by anyone is subject to comparison with those from other people, to be judged on consistency.

Cooper's UFO and similar stories have a pattern of stark inconsistency with all other sources that ALL investigators have found. Reason to doubt them.

Cooper's statements on 'NASA UFO secrets' being a myth is fully CONSISTENT with all other astronaut statements, documentation, and later recollections. No reason to doubt them.

See the difference?

originally posted by: Scdfa
Wow. This is a truly embarrassing thread, to drag an actual hero through the mud for daring to speak about the UFO situation. Some might find it quite shameful to work so hard to tarnish the character of a great man, especially one who is no longer here to defend himself. To quote Star Trek, "He's dead, Jim"........

Gordon Cooper isn't here to debunk Jim Oberg's smears, so I will.

You may be late to the party so I should also point out what I had presumed any reader of my reports could have noticed -- the main ones were researched and published long ago, in Cooper's lifetime, and were shared with him [his book uses information in them] and were based in part on letters exchanged with him in the late 1970s. No major features of those reports were NOT available to Cooper or his biographers for two decades while he lived.

This underscores a more general theme, the time-criticality of accessing contemporary corroborative witnesses to such stories and raises the sad likelihood that with similar famous stories of the past where such witnesses were NOT sought, perhaps out of the blanket adulation expressed by many, we have to suspect that inconvenient facts might not have found before they were lost forever. Worse, in a useful propaganda story by a certified hero, such facts may have been found but suppressed, a la 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence'. To diminish the future suspicions of such possibilities, all contextual testimony needs to be actively sought out and preserved...

... even if it breaks the hearts of hero-worshippers.

originally posted by: JimOberg

originally posted by: CardDown
I've tried, but can't locate a 1973 New York City UFO conference.

Was the whole thing made up, or is it possible the date or location is in error?

My estimate of the date is based on the August 1973 article's reference to a 'recent' event.

But if the quotation is fictional, so might the conference have been -- good point.

Here's the latest exchange, with Cooper's co-author on his autobiography:

here's another dead end overnight. I wrote to Cooper's co-author:

Date: Tue, December 09, 2014 10:01 pm
To: [email protected]

I'm digging into the early 1970's in Gordo Cooper's life when he first 'came out' with his UFO stories, and have found the August 1973 French magazine which contained an alleged transcript of a Cooper interview on UFOs at a NYC international UFO conference. It is the source of the quote used by Columbia Pictures to promote CE3K in 1977, and even after Cooper sued them over it, they are STILL using it. Did you ever hear anything about Cooper even attending such a conference in early 1973? Do you have any information about his lawsuit's conclusion [he described it to me in a letter in 1978]? It appears he was completely innocent in this matter and the quoted material was, as he insisted, fictitious. But how, I wonder, did the hoaxer [possibly an Italian journalist named Benny Manocchia] know of Cooper's UFO interest? The beginning of that chapter in his life remains obscure, can you cost any light into it? Thanks!

His answer:

Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:12 AM

I'm sorry, I can't. That was way before I was involved with Gordon, and we never discuss the case. I do know he had strong feelings about UFOs, the existence of ET life, etc. You probably read that in our book, Leap of Faith, yes?

Why do you take the time to research about quotations of an Astronaut who you've already made your mind up on?
What drives you to be on the Internet daily, on all major sites and video uploading sites basically ridiculing anything with an opinion on the UFO phenomenon?

Just an honest question.