The 1966 UFO sightings over Michigan and other parts of the U.S. caused an anxious public to demand Congressional action, and no government official seemed more determined to get to the bottom of things than Rep.Gerald Ford, whose Michigan constituents were particularly vocal about events in the state. The future President Ford's actions eventually led to Congressional hearings and, ultimately, the infamous University of Colorado UFO study. Under the direction of Dr. Edward U. Condon, the project, as mentioned previously, declared UFOs unreal -- exactly as predicted by Look Magazine and author John G. Fuller, who exposed the project as essentially a diversion intent upon reaching a negative conclusion about UFOs, evidence to the contrary be damned.
I wrote Dr. Condon when the project began, energized and hopeful that at last a truly scientific inquiry was underway. Condon replied with a brief letter, and I'll post that just for old times' sake when I find it.
In the meantime, here's more Gerald Ford UFO history. (Please refer way back to my blog entry of June 11, 2007 where I posted Ford's response to indications of dishonesty in the Colorado study.) This time, I offer a letter from Ford plus enclosures of two news releases (I love those illustrations) and a copy of his letter to two powerful government figures requesting action. I'm rather amused that one of the Ford letter's recipients is no less than L. Mendel Rivers, chief of the House Armed Services Committee -- who (see a previous post for his letter) less than a year before had flipped off my own UFO concerns in a letter to my congressman. This time, Rivers didn't have the choice to denounce UFOs and people inquiring about them. Congressman Gerald Ford, House minority leader, was knocking at Rivers' door, and he meant business.
