[1] He coined the term Metalaw, which refers to a field of legal thought now closely related to the scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
A neighboring retired professor of astronomy aroused Haley’s interest in the moon, stars, and planets, and he wrote fictional accounts of outer space which amused his teachers and friends.
He returned to Tacoma, serving as staff assistant to the General Manager of Pacific Telephone & Telegraph in 1929, and as a secretary to Washington State First District Congressman Ralph Horr (Rep.) in 1931-32.
[5] There he was remembered as the nemesis of broadcasters who touted illegal products on the air such as goat gland implants, cancer cures, and birth control drugs.
In June 1947, the FCC granted him a construction permit to build a new Class A FM station at Pasadena, California, to operate on 98.3 megaHertz (megacycles, at the time), with 420 watts effective radiated power.
It scheduled a "formal opening" on August 20, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, anticipating an expected attendance of more than 3,000 persons, with movies, speeches by government officials, Hollywood entertainers, and a dance following the show.
"[18] In October 1947, the FCC granted Haley a construction permit to build a new AM station at Pasadena, to operate on 1300 kiloHertz (then, kilocycles), with transmitter power of one kilowatt.
[21] In the early days of jet-assisted takeoff (JATO), engineers including Theodore von Kármán decided to form Aerojet Corporation to provide a business structure to their activities.
[22]: 259 The company expanded quickly, but needed capital, so Haley contacted William F. O'Niel, president of General Tire and his vice-president Dan A. Kimball.
Aerojet developed liquid- and solid-fuel rocket power plants used in projects such as the Titan that carried NASA’s Gemini astronauts into Earth orbit.
He never lost his love of rocketry, however, and has become widely known as the nation's first "space lawyer", having devoted himself, among other things, to setting up guidelines for prospective claims to the moon].
Haley theorized that only one principle of human law can be projected onto our possible future relations with an extraterrestrial intelligence: "the stark concept of absolute equity.
"[24] In 1963 Appleton-Century-Crofts published Haley's Space Law and Government, with forewords contributed by Lyndon Johnson (then Vice President), House Majority Leader Carl Albert, and California Congressman George P. Miller.
Haley acknowledged the "analytical capacity of Robert D. Crane and his unexcelled ability to quickly assemble source material"(page xv).
At least Moscow had an interplanetary travel group as early as 1924, and three years later, at the time the Germans founded their first rocket society, the Russians were hosts to the first International Exhibition of Space Navigation.
A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Haley was interred at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors after a requiem mass at Ft. Myer (Va.) Chapel.