6 U.S. Presidents Who Were Totally Obsessed with UFOs
Presidential curiosity isn’t always about diplomacy or the economy—sometimes, it’s about what might be flying overhead. Across decades and party lines, several U.S. presidents have displayed a peculiar fixation with UFOs. Their interest reveals a thread of obsession few expected from the highest office in the land.
Gerald Ford Demanded UFO Accountability
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Back in 1966, mysterious lights zipped through Michigan skies, and the Air Force blamed it on swamp gas. Then-Congressman Ford wasn’t buying it. He pushed for a congressional look into what was really going on. It didn’t lead to a full investigation, but it did spark the first official UFO hearing in U.S. history.
Jimmy Carter Reported One Before He Was President
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Before becoming president, Carter spotted something strange glowing in the sky over Georgia in 1969. He didn’t let it slide. He filed a report and even promised UFO transparency during his campaign. Once in office, reality got in the way, and the declassification he’d hoped for stalled. Still, that personal sighting never quite left his orbit.
Ronald Reagan Asked Gorbachev About Aliens
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After reportedly spotting a strange object while flying in California in the 1970s, Reagan’s fascination only deepened. Once in office, he populated a space advisory council with sci-fi authors and floated “Star Wars” missile defense. He even once asked Soviet leader Gorbachev whether the USSR would help America during an alien invasion. Cold War diplomacy, but make it cosmic.
Bill Clinton Tasked Aides With Digging Into Roswell
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Clinton didn’t hide his curiosity. Early on, he asked a trusted aide to look into two things: who really killed JFK, and whether aliens were real. He dug into the Roswell incident, poked at Air Force explanations, and even joked about being disappointed no aliens had turned up. At some point, his cabinet reportedly got a little tired of hearing about “little green men.”
Barack Obama Made It Sound More Mundane
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No hidden alien labs under Roswell, Obama said. But he did acknowledge that some military footage showed things flying in ways we couldn’t explain. He wasn’t on a UFO crusade, but his cool-headed confirmation of weird data gave the topic a credibility boost—just as the military started paying more attention to UAPs (that’s “unidentified aerial phenomena,” if you’re new here).
Donald Trump Approved Real UFO Footage Releases
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Trump’s administration oversaw the Pentagon’s public release of UAP videos filmed by Navy pilots. Though he downplayed their significance, he also approved the creation of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. Trump’s personal interest seemed casual, but the official steps taken under his leadership revived serious public attention.
John F. Kennedy Might’ve Wanted UFO Intel
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Conspiracy theorists claim JFK was interested in sharing UFO intel. A 1963 memo allegedly supporting this was released decades later, sparking theories that his assassination was connected. It’s speculative at best, but it keeps JFK’s name in UFO conversations.
George H.W. Bush Likely Knew More Than He Shared
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Before leading the country, Bush ran the CIA. That alone has fueled plenty of speculation about what he might’ve seen in top-secret briefings. Unlike others on this list, he stayed tight-lipped about the topic. But if anyone had access to the real alien files, it was probably him, and he took that knowledge to the grave.
Thomas Jefferson Recorded America’s First Sighting
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In 1813, Jefferson recounted an unusual aerial event reported in Kentucky involving a luminous body crashing and releasing vapor. Though he didn’t use modern UFO terminology, his record of the account is one of the earliest presidential mentions of something strange in the sky, long before anyone looked up expecting answers.