On Feb. 14, former President Barack Obama was asked a question during an interview with political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen. “Are aliens real?”
“They’re real,” Obama replied, “but I haven’t seen them. They’re not being kept in, what is it, Area 51. There’s no underground facility. Unless … There’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid from the President of the United States.”
The internet went bananas.
Two days later, Obama clarified on Instagram. “Since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
When asked for comment on Obama’s declaration, President Donald Trump said, “He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake, he took it out of classified information.” Trump then continued with a slightly stifled smirk, “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”
Social media exploded again.
The conspiracy minded wondered whether Trump’s statement itself confirmed classified information.
Hours later, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was directing the Pentagon to identify and release government files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”
The Pentagon has reported hundreds of UAP cases in recent years. Twenty-one of those reports have been tagged as needing further analysis due to “anomalous characteristics.” None, officials say, demonstrate extraterrestrial activity.
Presidential commentary on UFOs didn’t begin in the age of podcasts and social media. For more than 200 years, the question of extraterrestrial life has brushed up against the Oval Office.
Multiple presidents have joked, speculated, investigated, promised disclosure, and occasionally claimed personal sightings of UFOS. Some have remained mysteriously silent. Others have been dragged into some serious tall-sounding tales.
Whether extraterrestrial contact has been secretly made with our government or not, it’s still fun to reflect on how much influence the Commander-in-Chiefs have had on UFO conspiracy culture throughout the years.
Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
In 1800, while serving as Vice President, Thomas Jefferson recorded a “singular phenomenon” reported by the naturalist and astronomer William Dunbar. Dunbar described “a fast-moving, crimson-red, cigar-shaped, luminous object, roughly 70–80 feet long, traveling about 200 yards above the ground.”
This account appeared in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 6 and is the earliest known reference by a U.S. President to unexplained objects in the sky.
Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
In 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold reported a sighting of fast-moving objects near Mount Rainier which ignited public fascination with UFOs. That same year, an Air Force balloon crashed near a New Mexico ranch and sparked the Roswell Incident, a conspiracy theory claiming the debris was a government cover-up of an alien spacecraft and crew.
Amidst the media frenzy, Truman was asked whether he had seen any flying saucers himself. “Only in the newspapers,” he quipped.
Behind the humor, his administration treated the sightings as national security concerns, launching investigations that evolved into Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force’s official program designed to investigate, analyze, and document reports of Unidentified Flying Objects.
The program ran from 1952 to 1969.
Kenneth Arnold, the Idaho pilot who reported seeing seeing nine UFOs near Mount Rainier in 1947, later sketched the crescent-shaped object he saw. The others were roughly circular, he said.
The Idaho Statesman
John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
No verified public statement shows JFK discussing alien life.
However, conspiracy theorists point to an alleged 1963 memo written by JFK and addressed to the CIA in which the president requests confidential information about UFOs.
NBC News noted that the memo was surfaced in 2011 by author William Lester.
Its authenticity is heavily disputed and widely considered a likely forgery… but it keeps JFK in the conversation.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
LBJ rarely commented publicly on UFOs. However, he presided during intense Cold War aerospace development, when many sightings were likely tied to experimental aircraft. Under his presidency, the U.S. Air Force briefed officials that in 20 years of studying 11,000+ sightings, there was no evidence that UFOs posed a threat or were extraterrestrial. This report set the stage for closing Project Blue Book.
Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
Keep in mind, this story was first reported in the National Enquirer and is based on secondhand accounts.
According to an urban legend, not official documentation, Nixon allegedly took comedian Jackie Gleason to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to view alien bodies in 1973. Gleason reportedly told friends he was deeply disturbed by what he saw.
It remains lore, not official history.
Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
Before becoming president, Ford demanded answers about UFO sightings in Michigan, calling for congressional investigation. Unlike many presidents, he publicly pushed for transparency.
Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
Carter reported seeing a UFO in 1969 near Leary, Georgia, with at least ten witnesses. In 1973, he filed a report with the International UFO Bureau.
As a 1976 candidate, he pledged:“If I become President, I’ll make every piece of information this country has about UFO sightings available to the public and to scientists.”
Yet once in office, Carter cited potential defense implications and did not release classified files.
Carter may not have released UFO files, but he sent ‘humanity’s hello’ to anything listening in the universe. In 1977, Carter placed a message within the Voyager spacecrafts ‘Golden Records’. Along with Carter’s message, the disks contained 116 images, 55 language greetings, natural/human sounds, and 90 minutes of music, intended as peaceful salutations to possible extraterrestrial civilizations.
Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
Reagan said he witnessed a UFO during a 1974 plane flight while governor of California, a story that was corroborated by his pilot, Bill Paynter.
Reagan also flet that humanity might unite in the face of “some outside, universal threat.” He famously told the United Nations in 1987, “I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”
George H.W. Bush (1989–1993)
Before the presidency, Bush ran the CIA. That alone fuels speculation. If anyone had access, conspiracy theorists argue, it would’ve been him.
That said, he never publicly entertained UFO conspiracy theories.
Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
In a 2014 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Clinton admitted he “had people go look at the records on Area 51 to make sure there was no alien down there.”
He concluded, “There are no aliens there”.
“If we were visited someday, I wouldn’t be surprised,” he added , “I just hope it’s not like Independence Day.“
He also explained that the rumors surrounding Roswell and Area 51 were likely due to secrecy around stealth technology testing.
George W. Bush (2001–2009)
George W. Bush also addressed UFO questions on Jimmy Kimmel Live by jokingly refusing to share information, saying “I’m not telling you nothing” when asked if he reviewed secret files.
No disclosures. Just smiles.
Those who have sat in the Oval Office have responded to that question in many different ways. Some have denied it, others have sidestepped it, others left it open for personal contemplation. One thing remains certain, if extraterrestrial beings decide to reveal their existence to the world, the Commander in Chief will undoubtedly have a statement or two about it.
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