Gerald Ford asks the House to hold hearings on the Michigan sightings

On 28 March 1966 House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford wrote to Rep. George P. Miller, chairman of the Science and Astronautics Committee, and Rep. L. Mendel Rivers, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, proposing that one of the two committees hold hearings on unidentified flying objects. The letter cited recent sightings in Michigan and said the Air Force consultant, astrophysicist Dr. J. Allen Hynek, had dismissed them as pranks, swamp gas or the crescent moon and Venus. Ford wrote that he did not agree all the reports could be so easily explained away and asked for testimony from the executive branch and from people who claimed to have seen UFOs.

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Ford proposed that either the Science and Astronautics Committee or the Armed Services Committee schedule hearings and invite testimony from the executive branch and from persons who claim to have seen UFOs.
The accompanying release said Ford described the "swamp gas" version given by J. Allen Hynek as "flippant."
The letter quoted a UPI story from Ann Arbor dated March 21, 1966, that "at least 40 persons, including 12 policemen" said they saw a strange flying object land in a swamp.
In an April 21, 1966 statement Ford said the Air Force had told him it was arranging a study of UFO sightings by scientists at a university with no close ties to the Air Force.
An Air Force release of October 7, 1966 announced the University of Colorado had been selected, with Dr. Edward U. Condon directing the scientific work under an agreement valued at approximately $300,000.

Documents

Document Ford Press Releases, UFO, 1966 Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library· 15 pp.