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.
“The Pentagon”5 pages
-4· RIP. FORD STATBMBNr • APRIL 21, 1966 selectively declassify information which has been stamped "Secret" in order to substantiate the 1erioua que1tioas raioed about the safety and support of our fighting men in Vietum and the future security of our country. We must therefore depend in large meaeure on the kind of reeponsf!lle, !~dependent reporters I have cited for firsthand information on the situation in Vietuaa. I for one do not regard them as ''baloney." Whether you call theca axe.mples mistakes of judsment, miamanaga.eat, poor planning, faulty foresight, bad bungling or just plain goofe, I don 1 t care. Whether they are "alarming" or "distressing" or "shocking" or whatever word you prefer--they are intolerable as long as they eDdanger any American eoldier, airman, eailor, or urine. They are intolerable as long as we, b,y aeking questioae of the Pentagon and persisting after answers, ss compel or speed up remedial action. This is the joint duty of the raaponaibla press and the raponsible ~epresentatives of the people. I intend ad hope ll\!x, int•d to continue this duty. It is ~ ''baloney." Ill
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.