United States Legislature

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We have quotes from 10 United States Senators and Congressman about UFOs

Robert F Kennedy
U.S. Senator
“As you may know, I am a card-carrying member of the Amalgamated Flying Saucers Association. Therefore, like many other people in our country I am interested in the phenomenon of flying saucers. It is a fascinating subject that has initiated both scientific fiction fantasies and serious scientific research. I watch with great interest all reports of unidentified flying objects, and I hope that some day we will know more about this intriguing subject. Dr. Harlow Shapley, the prominent astronomer, has stated that there is a probability that there is other life in the universe. I favor more research regarding this matter, and I hope that once and for all we can determine the true facts about flying saucers. Your magazine can stimulate much of the investigation and inquiry into this phenomenon through the publication of news and discussion of material. This can be of great help in paving the way to aknowledge of one of the fascinating subjects of our contemporary world.”
In a letter to Gray Barker Publisher, Saucer News May 9, 1968”.

Daniel K. Inouye
U.S. Senator
“There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.”

Gerald R. Ford
U.S. Representative
“I think there may be substance in some of these reports … I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough explanation than has been given them by the Air Force to date. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs, and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment of the subject.”
March 1966

Barry Goldwater
U.S. Senator, Retired Air Force Reserve Brigadier General, and pilot.
“It is true that I was denied access to a facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, because I never got in. I can’t tell you what was inside. We both know about the rumors (concerning a captured UFO and crew members). I have never seen what I would call a UFO, but I have intelligent friends who have.”
From a letter April, 1979
“I think some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we don’t know about–and probably never will unless the Air Force discloses them.”
“I remember the case in Georgia in the 1950’s of a National Guard plane going after a UFO and never returning. And I recall the case in Franklin, Kentucky, when four military planes investigated a UFO. One of them exploded in midair and no one knows why.”
“Hell no, you can’t go. I can’t go, and don’t ask me again.”
Senator Goldwater quoting General Curtis Lamey’s response to the senator’s request to visit the “Blue Room” at Wright Patterson Air Force Base where, Goldwater claims he was told physical evidence exists confirming the existence of alien spacecraft.
“Yes.”
Senator Goldwater’s response to Larry King’s question: “Do you think our government knows UFOs are real and are keeping this fact from the American public?”
“I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have advanced beyond our mental capabilities. ” and added, “I think some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we don’t know about-and probably never will unless the Air Force discloses them.”
He said he was refused permission to check the Air Force files on UFOs.

Richard Russell
U.S. Senator, Head of Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I have discussed this matter with the affected agencies of the government, and they are of the opinion that it is not wise to publicize this matter at this time.”
Regarding his sighting of a UFO during a 1955 trip to the Soviet Union.

William H. Ayres
U.S. Representative
“Congressional investigations … are still being held on the problem of unidentified flying objects and the problem is one in which there is quite a bit of interest…. Since most of the material presented to the Committees is classified, the hearings are never printed.”
1958

Thomas L. Ashley
U.S. Representative
“I share your concern over the secrecy that continues to shroud our intelligence activities on this subject.”
In a letter on the subject of UFOs to NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena.

John W. McCormack
U.S. Representative, Former Speaker of the House.
“Some three years ago, (1957), as chairman of the House Select Committee on Outer Space out of which came the recently established NASA, my Select Committee held executive sessions on the matter of ‘Unidentified Flying Objects.’ We could not get much information at that time, although it was pretty well established by some in our minds that there were some objects flying around in space that were unexplainable.”
In a November 4, 1960 letter to Major Donald Keyhoe.
“I feel that the Air Force has not been giving out all the available information on the Unidentified Flying Objects. You cannot disregard so many unimpeachable sources.”
January 1965

Jerry L. Pettis
U.S. Representative
“Having spent a great deal of my life in the air, as a pilot… I know that many pilots… have seen phenomena that they could not explain. These men, most of whom have talked to me, have been very reticent to talk about this publicly, because of the ridicule that they were afraid would be heaped upon them… However, there is a phenomena here that isn’t explained.”
July 29, 1968 during the House Committee on Science and Astronautics hearing on UFOs.

Steven H. Schiff
U.S. Representative
“I wrote to the Dept. of Defense, laying out these allegations and asking them if someone could come over with the file and brief me on it. My intent was to simply release this back to whomever inquired, which is very routine in Congress.”
In response to inquiries from his constituents in 1993 concerning a possible cover-up of the crash of an alleged UFO outside Roswell, NM in 1947, requested information from the Department of Defense.
“The response I got was not routine. The response I got was a very brief letter from the Air Force saying that my request had been referred to the National Archives, without any further comment… and without any offer of any kind of assistance in retrieving it… So I went to the National Archives and the National Archives wrote a letter back to me saying they didn’t have anything in their files on the Roswell incident… I just have to say this much: the way the Dept. of Defense has responded has not been routine.”
“Having been given a “runaround” in his search, he instigated an inquiry by the GAO (General Accounting Office) in 1994 into the handling of Air Force files relating to this matter.”
“I did not ask the General Accounting Office to try once and for all to resolve this matter… What I asked the GAO to do was to assist me in locating whatever Air Force and Defense Department files would have existed on the subject, or an accounting of what happened to them. ”
“To me the issue is government accountability. I think that people who want to see government records are entitled to see government records or to get an explanation of what happened to them, regardless of their reason, regardless of the subject matter. It was my intention simply to make that information public if I could… unless there is a present security reason why not – and I have to add real fast if the matter is classified ‘military secret,’ we members of Congress can’t just go monkeying around in there anytime we want. There are procedures for us too and that’s fine with me.”
“I was not told that we have a file that’s classified. I was simply referred to an agency which I have to believe – now that I know the prominence of the Roswell incident – I have to believe the Dept. of Defense knew very well that I wasn’t going to find anything in the National Archives when they sent me there twice.”
“It’s difficult for me to understand even if there was a legitimate security concern in 1947, that it would be a present security concern these many years later. Frankly I am baffled by the lack of responsiveness on the part of the Defense Dept. on this one issue, I simply can’t explain it.”
Excerpts of Congressman Schiff’s remarks on CBS radio’s The Gil Gross Show, February 1994.