Documents / Official release
This file from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library holds press releases and statements that House Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford issued between January and April 1966. Most cover Vietnam policy, the war on poverty, inflation, foreign aid, the federal budget and changes in his press staff. An April 21, 1966 statement says the Air Force told Ford it would contract a university with no close Air Force ties to have scientists study unexplained UFO sightings and make the report public. According to Ford, his call for congressional hearings led to this study.
CONGRESSMAN GERALD R. FORD HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER NEWS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH. FOR RELEASE ON RECEIPT MARCH 25, 1966 WASHINGTON--House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, R-Mich., today proposed that Congress investigate the tash of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects in Southern Michigan and other parts of the country. Ford said he believes a congressional inquiry would be worthwhile because the American people are becoming alarmed by the UFO stories. He noted that Air Force investigators have been checking on such reports for years but have come up with nothing conclusive. "In the light of these new sightings and incidents," Ford said, "it would be a very wholesome thing for a committee of the Congress to conduct a number of hearings and to call responsible witnesses from the executive branch (of the government) and witnesses who say they have sighted these objects." "I think the American people would feel better if there was a full-blown investigation of these incidents, which some persons allege have taken place." 41 fl #
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 55 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.