Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and prior to this, was the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. He was the first person appointed to the Vice Presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, after Spiro Agnew resigned. When he became president upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the first and to date only person to have served as both Vice President and President of the United States without being elected by the Electoral College. Before ascending to the Vice Presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader.

38th President of the United States

As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure. One of his more controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford's incumbency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the President. In 1976, Ford defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party. After experiencing health problems, Ford died in his home on December 26, 2006. Ford lived longer than any other U.S. president, living 93 years and 165 days, while his 895-day presidency remains the shortest of all presidents who did not die in office.

UFOs

During early 1966, Ford’s home state of Michigan experienced a variety of fascinating UFO sightings. These incidents, regrettably, became popularly known as the "swamp gas" sightings, although former Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek only intended marsh gas as a probable explanation for reports in a couple of areas.

Ford, then a Michigan congressman and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, became outraged with the Air Force’s investigation of the reports. In addition, his office was deluged with letters, telegrams and phone calls from anxious constituents and UFO observers who demanded that the official investigation should itself be investigated.

On March 25, 1966, the first of two important Ford press releases appeared. The minority leader was calling for a full Congressional UFO inquiry. On March 28, yet another press release surfaced; attached was a copy of a letter Ford was sending to the Chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee, and the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Ford’s wishes were unmistakably clear. He wanted a Congressional inquiry, and quickly.

The Michigan Congressman got his wish. On April 5, 1966, Congress held an open hearing on UFOs, an unprecedented move. While the hearing failed to accomplish as much as it might have, it produced an Air Force promise that arrangements would be made for an impartial, civilian investigation.

On October 7, 1966, the Air Force announced that the University of Colorado would undertake an open-ended UFO study, free of government influence.

In the May 14, 1968 issue of Look Magazine, author John G. Fuller exposed the Colorado University "investigation" as the farce that it actually was. Fuller, leaving no room for doubt, listed so much evidence of the absurdities and ever-present negative attitude of the supposedly open-minded Project Director (the late Dr. Edward U. Condon), that a total waste of over a half million tax dollars was obvious.

The Look piece, entitled "Flying Saucer Fiasco," also included a statement by the then-Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (a civilian UFO agency), Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC, ret.). Keyhoe announced that NICAP would no longer support Colorado's work because of its apparent bias against the UFO subject.

Gerald Ford was familiar with the Look article and he, like many disillusioned Americans, fully realized that the UFO investigation he worked so diligently to get was in serious trouble.

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1797.htm