PRESIDENT GERALD FORD's UFO
LEGACY
By Frank Warren, guest contributor.
[January 17, 2007]
 [WeeklyUniverse.com]. The
year 1966 was very active for UFOs in this country; in particular, sightings
were heavy in the state of Michigan, and people wanted answers. The
Air Force back then was still "officially" investigating the phenomenon
and tasked J.
Allen Hynek to "calm the waters" and offer an explanation; the answer
he gave would haunt him the rest of his life. He attributed the bulk
of the sightings to "swamp
gas"!
Then Congressman
Gerald "Jerry" Ford, being a diligent politician and in response to his
constituents, wrote:
"In the firm belief that
the American public deserves a better explanation than that thus far given
by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation
of
the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility
regarding UFOs and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment of the
subject.
I have taken special interest
in these (UFO) accounts because many of the latest reported sightings have
been
made in my home state of Michigan...Because I think there may be substance
to some of these reports and because I believe the American people are
entitled to a more thorough explanation than has been given them by the
Air force to date, I am proposing either the Science and Astronautics Committee
or the Armed services Committee of the House, schedule hearings on the
subject of UFOs and invite testimony from both the executive branch of
the Government and some of the persons who claim to have seen UFOs...In
the firm belief that the American public deserves a better explanation
than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there
be
a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it
to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs and to produce the
greatest possible enlightenment on this subject."
That
specific letter was received by the House Armed Services Committee and
the House Science and Astronautics Committee in order to instigate hearings
on the matter. Ford's efforts weren't met with great enthusiasm;
however, he got the ball rolling, and a "Congressional Symposium" later
took place, ironically chaired by then Congressman Donald Rumsfeld.
In a radio
broadcast to his constituents on March 30, 1966, Ford stated:
"My friends of the fifth
congressional district, this is your congressman, Jerry Ford, speaking
to you from the nation's capitol.
As you know, I have requested
a Congressional investigation of unidentified flying objects, UFO's, as
they are called.
I am most serious about this.
This is the kind of subject that lends itself to some flak, a little criticism,
and
a shower of compliments.
One day this week, I felt an unidentified
flying object whiz past my ear--my right ear naturally. Upon close
inspection, I had no more trouble identifying this particular UFO than
the Air Force did in telling the people of Michigan they have been seeing
swamp gas.
The UFO I encountered was a brickbat
tossed by an irate gentleman who believes Congress could use its time to
much better advantage than in investigating what he calls 'UFO hysteria.'
But this is one of the
few criticisms I encountered in the more than 50 letters that I received
since first proposing that UFO's be investigated by either the House Armed
Services Committee or the House Science and Astronautics Committee.
...And I do think that the American
people want a better explanation of UFO's than they have been getting.
If my mail is any indication, there are many, many people who find it extremely
difficult to believe some of the stories put out by the government on this
and other subjects.
This is your Congressman, Jerry
Ford, saying, so long for now, and I'll see you next week at this same
time, same station."
The
Air Force, and in particular, Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla, the Director
of Project
Blue Book (The Air Force's official investigation of the UFO Phenomenon)
wasn't happy with Ford's statements, and obvious jab at the Air Force's
"lack of results" with "their" investigation of phenomenon.
Quintanilla
wrote:
"Congressman Gerald Ford
got on the UFO bandwagon. It just so happens that Dexter was in Congressman
Ford's district. It was pure politics and he made the national news
by demanding that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the
Armed Services Committee schedule hearings on the subject of UFOs... Congressman
Ford did get his wish, a Congressional hearing was imminent.
Someone
should ask Congressman Ford what it cost the American taxpayer to hold
that hearing and ask him if he would like to reimburse for the expense;
because that hearing was totally unnecessary."
On April
21st, 1966 Ford wrote:
"As I had expected, some
persons have been ridiculed by the call for a Congressional investigated
of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). These people are a fraction
of those who have given their reaction to my proposal. The overwhelming
majority of those expressing a view in letters to me believe a congressional
investigation would be useful and is needed.
Those who scoff at the idea of
a Congressional investigation of UFO's apparently are unaware that the
House Armed services Committee has scheduled a closed- door hearing on
the matter Tuesday with the Air Force and that Rep. Joseph E. Karth, D-Minn.,
headed
a three man subcommittee which held two days of hush-hush hearings five
years ago on behalf of the Science and Astronautics Committee. Karth
has confirmed in conversation with a member of my staff that he conducted
these secret hearings.
The present Science and Astronautics
Committee chairman, Rep. George P. Millar, D. Calif., has shied away from
the UFO problem at this time, saying his committee does not have the jurisdiction
over the Air Force. But the late Rep. Overton Brooks, D-La., obviously
had different ideas because he tapped Karth to summon Air Force witnesses
and question them after a flurry of sightings in 1961.
Karth has informed me that his
subcommittee made an oral report to the full committee but never released
anything to the public. According to Charles F. Ducander, the committee
staff director, no record was made of the conversation between Karth subcommittee
and the Air Force witnesses. The hearings, he said, took place in
Karth's Congressional office.
I have never said that I believe
any of the reported UFO sightings indicate visits to earth from another
planet. Apart from the pranks and natural phenomena, some of these
objects
may well be products of experimentation by our own military. If this
is so, why doesn't the Air Force concede it and in this way reassure the
American people. There would be no need to go into detail on the
nature of the experiments."
Ford further
stated:
The Air Force has informed me
it is arranging for a study by high-caliber scientists of some of the UFO
sightings which have never been explained.
This study will be placed under
contract soon after July 1, start of the new fiscal year. It will
be carried out by a university which has no close ties with the Air Force
so that the findings will be completely objective, Air Force officials
tell me.
Those people engaged in the study
will be high-caliber scientists who have never taken a position on UFO's,
the
Air Force said. It will be made clear to them that they are not being
hired to come up with findings in support of previous Air Force statements
regarding UFO's, I am informed.
The Air Force said there is too
much effort involved to ask these scientists to make this study without
pay.
The report will definitely be
made public, The Air Force assured me. The whole purpose of the study
is
to make clear the air as far as the public is concerned.
This, of course, was my purpose
in recently requesting that public hearings on the subject of UFO's be
conducted by either the Armed Services Committee or the House Science and
Astronautics Committee.
It was as a result of my call
for a congressional investigation that the Air Force now is arranging for
a study of UFO's by topflight scientists not connected in any way with
the Air Force.
I would have preferred a Congressional
investigation with witnesses to include reliable persons from among those
who say they have seen UFO's. I still think this would be beneficial.
But the UFO study by a panel of scientists, with the report to be made
public, is a step in the right direction.
This
of course did come to fruition and was the culmination of the Air Force's
20+ years of investigating the "UFO phenomenon," i.e., the Condon
Report.
Perhaps
to no one's surprise, after Ford became president it seemed his interest
in UFOs waned. Years later he would comment:
"During my public career
in Congress, as Vice President and President, I made various requests for
information on UFOs. The official authorities always denied the UFO allegations."
As
the nation mourns former President Gerald Ford, and remembers his many
contributions, undoubtedly much will be attributed to him in regards to
the
healing of our country post Nixon and Watergate, etc. However, for
those of us who pay attention to such matters, we will also herald his
"lesser known" contributions made in the effort to unravel the UFO enigma.
Copyright 2007 by Frank Warren.
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