Documents / Document
This Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library file holds 1966 press releases on UFOs from House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford. In a March 28, 1966 letter, Ford asks the House Armed Services and Science and Astronautics Committees to hold hearings, calling the Air Force's swamp gas explanation of the Michigan sightings flippant. In April statements, Ford says the Air Force has agreed to a university study. The file also contains the October 7, 1966 Air Force announcement choosing the University of Colorado, with Dr. Edward U. Condon as director.
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER FOR SUNDAY A.M. RELEASE NEWS RELEASE APRIL 3, 1966 STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD a. FORD, a-MICHIGAN Aa I had expected, some persons have ridiculed fly call for ac:lOqp;'eaatoaal investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFO's). These people are a fraction of those who have given me 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 uro• s apparently are unaware that the House Armed Services Committee l~s 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 House Science and Astronautics Committee. Karth has confirmed in conversation with a member of my staff that he conducted these aecret hearings. The present Science and Astronautics Coamittee chairman, Rep. George P. Miller, D-Calif., has shied away from a UFO probe at this time, saying his committee does not have 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 UFO sighting& in 1961. Karth has informed me that his subcommittee made an oral report to the full committee but never released anything to COlle ~lie. According to Charles F, Ducander, the committee•s staff director, no record was made of conversation between Karth s'Ubcommittee members and Air Force witnesses. The bearings, he said, took place in Karth's congressional office. I have never said that 1 believe any of the repo=ted UFO sig~ttaga ~ indicate visits to earth from another planet. Apart from 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. 1#1
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 15 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.