Why did American President Gerald Ford take seriously the study of unidentified objects

Why did American President Gerald Ford take seriously the study of unidentified objects

50 years ago, future US President Gerald Ford radically changed the style of UFO discussions. In 1966, more and more reports of unidentified flying objects began to appear in Michigan. Of course, people are worried. As a representative of the 5th district, Ford shared their concerns and urged Congress to conduct a serious investigation.

Talking about UFOs attracted media attention, so Ford took advantage of this moment. He issued a press release before the hearing, in which he set forth arguments in favor of government transparency in the subject of UFOs.

Ford proposed that the Committee on Science and Astronautics or the Committee on the Armed Forces schedule real UFO hearings and invite eyewitnesses to the events. He spoke as a politician and tried to attract more attention to this topic.

Let's not forget that we are talking about 1966. This is the period of the Cold War, the post-Cuban missile crisis, as well as rumors of various technologies hidden by the United States in the event of a nuclear attack. People really feared. When Ford demanded an official investigation, he managed to temporarily reduce the level of public panic. In fact, he said that the government would not hide the truth from the people.

Why did American President Gerald Ford take seriously the study of unidentified objects

Amateur photo of the “alleged UFO” by George Stoke in New Jersey (1952)

Ford did not achieve any investigation from Congress, but his ideas were implemented in the draft Blue Book. The investigation lasted about 3 years and ceased in 1969. The decision to discontinue the project was made on the basis of a report on the study of unusual events in the 40-60s. What did the report say?

For the period 1947-1969. in the Blue Book project directory there were about 12,618 UFO reports, 701 of which were never explained. The remaining events were decoded as meteorological events, test flights, weather probes, etc. They decided not to return to unexplained cases and in the report indicated that they did not find anything unusual. Therefore, the project was closed.

In the document, the USAF wrote: “As a result of the investigation of the Blue Book project, we came to the following conclusions:

  • no UFO has ever become a threat to the air force or local residents;
  • no evidence was found that unidentified objects are alien technological developments;
  • there was no evidence that the objects observed were alien spacecraft ”.
Why did American President Gerald Ford take seriously the study of unidentified objects

Air Force representatives closed the investigation, but local residents continued to study UFOs on their own, creating various organizations. For example, MUFON is still collecting information on UFOs.

It is believed that without Ford’s desire and risk, early UFO research projects might not have arisen. Ford first drew the attention of Congress to the situation and forced to listen to the public.

There were no formal hearings, but Ford increased the public desire to achieve more transparency on the part of the government. Now many ufologists consider cranks. However, in the 60s. the situation was so tense that even the future American president could not look at it through his fingers.

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