Area 51

Area 51 — page 5
Area Area 51 It sounds like a railroad yard or a spot on a game board not a legend like Shangri-La or Atlantis But for more than half a century Area 51 has been at the center of extraordinary American stories Which of them are true Which aren’t One reason why Area 51 has spun up so many vivid tales perhaps has to do with the fact that nearly everything about it has been officially denied or simply left unexplained The New York Times once described it as a base so secret it doesn’t exist And it’s a well-known irony that secrecy often attracts the spotlight aeronautics politics and defense even though its budget operations and employees have rarely been made public sometimes not even to the president When Lyndon Johnson took office in 1963 upon president John F Kennedy’s death he had never heard of Area 51 and had no But Area 51 does exist and has played a key role in American