Philip J. Corso
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Philip Corso, Corso, Lt. Col. Philip Corso |
| On the Timeline | 5 events, 1961–2006 |
Philip James Corso (1915–1998) was a U.S. Army intelligence officer who, shortly before his death, published The Day After Roswell (1997), claiming that he had helped distribute technology recovered from the 1947 Roswell crash to American industry. The book was a bestseller, but historians, researchers and the senator who wrote its foreword rejected its claims.[1][2]
Career
Corso was born in California, Pennsylvania. He was drafted into the Army and commissioned as an officer in 1942, serving in intelligence roles. In the early 1960s he briefly served as deputy chief of the Army's Foreign Technology Division in the Office of Research and Development, under Lt. Gen. Arthur Trudeau. In 1963, after about ten years as a lieutenant colonel, he resigned to become a staff assistant to Senator Strom Thurmond, and later worked for Thurmond again in the 1970s.[1]
The Day After Roswell
The book, ghostwritten by William J. Birnes and published by Pocket Books in 1997, claims that the U.S. recovered an alien spacecraft at Roswell in 1947, that Corso saw an alien body at Fort Riley, Kansas, that year, and that in the early 1960s Trudeau put him in charge of a file of crash artefacts, which he secretly "seeded" to defence contractors. Corso credited this with inspiring technologies such as fibre optics, lasers, integrated circuits and night-vision equipment. He promoted the book on NBC's Dateline on 24 June 1997, and it spent three weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.[1][3]
Reception
Thurmond had written a foreword believing it was for a memoir. After learning its contents, he said he knew of no such cover-up and did not believe one existed, and The New York Times reported that he regretted his role in the book.[1][2] Critics found numerous errors: - Philip Klass identified factual mistakes, including about the location of Eighth Air Force headquarters and Army missile guidance.[1] - Roswell researcher Kevin Randle found no record supporting Corso's claimed National Security Council role.[1] - Brad Sparks and Karl Pflock showed that Corso's described roles in events and programs conflicted with documented timelines.[1][4] - The technologies he named have well-documented human origins. A 1997 UK Ministry of Defence memo, released in 2011, dismissed his claims, citing his "previous track record of unreliable testimony". The Guardian later named the book one of the top ten literary hoaxes.[1][5]
Legacy
Despite its reception, The Day After Roswell became one of the most influential books promoting the idea that crash technology was reverse-engineered by industry, a theme repeated in later whistleblower claims. Corso died in 1998.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
- Philip Corso's Roswell claims (1961) — Army Col. Philip Corso claims he handled autopsy reports and recovered alien artifacts.
- Corso's doubts about autopsy reports (1997) (13 January 1997) — Philip Corso tells Vallée he may have received disinformation about alien autopsies.
- The Day After Roswell (June 1997) — Philip Corso claims he helped seed recovered UAP technology into U.S. industry.
- Eric Davis asks George H.W. Bush about Corso (26 March 2004) — Eric Davis says he asked George H.W. Bush about Philip Corso's claims.
- George H.W. Bush and the Trudeau briefing (17 October 2006) — Eric Davis says George H.W. Bush recalled a briefing about recovered material.
References
- Philip J. Corso — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- William J. Broad, "Senator Regrets Role in Book on Aliens", The New York Times (5 Jun 1997) · query.nytimes.com · archived copy
- Ann O'Neill, "A Tale of Ghostwriters and Alien Landings", Los Angeles Times (16 Nov 1997) · latimes.com · archived copy
- Brad Sparks, "Philip Corso's Roswellmania", Skeptical Inquirer (1998) · cdn.centerforinquiry.org · archived copy
- "Top 10 literary hoaxes", The Guardian (15 Nov 2001) · theguardian.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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