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This Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library file holds 1966 press releases and letters on UFOs from House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford. In March 1966 Ford asked the House Armed Services or Science and Astronautics Committee to hold hearings. He called the Air Force's swamp gas explanation for the Michigan sightings flippant. Later statements say the Air Force had agreed to fund an independent scientific study. An October 7, 1966 release announces that the University of Colorado, under Dr. Edward U. Condon, had been chosen to do it.
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER FOR RELEASE ON THURSDAY, P .M,, APRIL 21, 1966 STATEMENT BY HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GJmALD R., FORD, a-MICHIGAN. NEWS RELEASE The Air Force baa informed me it is arranging for a study by high-caliber scientists of some of the UFO sighting& whi~h 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 complete objective, Air Force of~ials tell me. I Those people eagaged ln the stu~l be high-calibe 1 sci-rtiats who have never taken a position on UF 'sf ~e Air Force said. It w 11 be made clear to them that they are not being hired to come up ~ findings in support of previous Air Force statements rega,rding qro~ I am informed. The Air Force s~id there is too much ~ort involved to ask these scientitts to make this study without pay. The report will definit,t' be made public, the Air Force assured me. The whole purpose of the s~~dy is to 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 House 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. ###
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