8. Due to the reticence of the Wright Brothers to reveal their valuable invention until it was patented and protected from theft, the world largely refused to believe in their accomplishments until years later
Due to this limited press attention, the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers were not believed by many at the time. The publisher of the Dayton Daily News, James Cox, later commented that “none of us believed it”, with this opinion perpetuated throughout journalistic circles. Editors and scientific journals doubted the “alleged experiments” of the duo, who deliberately kept the press at arm’s length from their activities to prevent competitors from stealing their creation before they could patent and sell it. Demanding a signed contract of purchase prior to demonstrating the capability of their aircraft, the U.S. government, having already sunk $50,000 into the failed Langley Aerodrome, initially refused to cooperate with the pair.
By 1906, after sustained criticism the European aviation community was overtly hostile to the unverified claims of the Wright Brothers. France labeled the brothers “bluffeurs” and Ernest Archdeacon, the founder of the Aéro-Club de France, snobbishly proclaimed “the French would make the first public demonstration of powered flight” and not bicycle repairmen from America. The Paris edition of the Herald Tribune published an article headlined “Flyers or Liars?”, whilst the New York Herald dismissively stated: “The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It’s easy to say, ‘We have flown”.