UFO historians often consider Eisenhower to be the last American President who actually had complete control over the UFO situation. Whether true or not, as the story goes, once Eisenhower left office and Kennedy entered the White House control of the UFO subject began to shift over to non-government entities and military contractors.

What is more certain is that Eisenhower’s rank as a five-star General made him accustomed to high level- secrets. This was clearly revealed in 1952 when Truman gave the newly elected Eisenhower the “comprehensive National Intelligence Digest prepared by the CIA” which contained, "the most important national intelligence on a worldwide basis,” Eisenhower would write in his memories a decade later that the digest "added little to my knowledge."[i]

What may go down as the most contentious part of the Eisenhower story is that Eisenhower had many rumored encounters with UFOs and aliens. Eisenhower could thus be labeled the contactee president.

The fact that there is a story about Eisenhower interacting UFOs or an alien does not make the story true. Most of the Eisenhower contact stories seem a little farfetched and may well be creations of the minds that first told them. This however does not change the fact that Eisenhower trumps all other presidents in such possibly made up stories.

Of the thirteen Presidents in power since UFOs first made their modern invasion, there are only eleven stories of Presidents actually having direct encounters with visiting aliens. Of these eleven stories, five involve Eisenhower.

Furthermore, most of the stories involving other Presidents have no real evidence supporting them, whereas many of the Eisenhower stories have multiple witnesses indicating at least a small chance that the story may actually have happened.

In addition to direct presidential alien contacts there are five stories of presidents having UFO sightings, Eisenhower is involved in one of these as well.

What is most important to this discussion is that three of the five alien encounters and one sighting by Eisenhower have a related possible nuclear connection.

The first of these extraterrestrial tales involved a sighting that Eisenhower was rumored to have been involved with just prior to becoming president.

The Eisenhower UFO Sighting

The story of Eisenhower’s UFO sighting appeared in the New York Post on June 18, 1997. It supposedly took place on the USS Roosevelt which was participating in a NATO exercise know as Operation Mainbrace.

This NATO exercise involved 80,000 men, 200 ships, and 1,000 planes. It was the largest NATO exercise held up to that time. Beside the Eisenhower story, there are many UFO sightings and photos have been documented by UFO researchers and TV documentaries that occurred during this NATO exercise, or involving the USS Roosevelt.[ii] The Eisenhower encounter was recorded as follows,

The USS FDR, Sixth fleet flagship, 1952, a crew member writes: "We were north and east of England with the NATO fleet in the North Atlantic. About 1:30 a.m., through the stormy rain and lightening, this big blue-white light appeared right off starboard bow. It came down to 100 feet of the water and just hung there as we cruised by it."

"This UFO was easy to see when the lightning flashed. It then rose straight and left. Four of us saw it. Here's the kicker! General Ike, who'd flown over by chopper with the Admiral, had just come out on the signal bridge wearing PJ's and robe, looking for coffee."

"We were sitting and making small talk when the bright light came on. We all watched it ten minutes, then just stood there staring at each other. After a while, Gen. Eisenhower said, he better go 'check this out' and left. He also told us to 'forget about it for now.'"

"Next day and ever after, nothing was ever said about it. I don't know what it was or why it was hushed, but I saw it."[iii]

What is significant about this rumored Eisenhower sighting is the less known nuclear connection. As the American nuclear stock piles grew in the late 1940s, a decision was made by military strategists to spread out the nuclear weapons. This would make it harder for the Soviets to target and track. It would also allow for forward basing of weapons so they could be moved quickly to battle fronts far from American shores. The decision was made to place nuclear weapons in other countries such as Great Britain and Germany. In addition bombs were flown in 24/7 operations on planes and carried on aircraft carriers.

The Eisenhower UFO sighting occurred on the USS Roosevelt. Just as Roswell was the first nuclear air force base to handle nuclear weapons, the USS Roosevelt was the first aircraft carrier to be armed in with nuclear weapons. This arming of the Roosevelt took place in 1950. Therefore, when the Eisenhower sighting occurred in 1952, the carrier was carrying nuclear weapons.

Eisenhower Alien Encounter Story #1 – No Date

One of the many tales of Eisenhower interacting with aliens was told on May 7, 2010, when a former State Representative from New Hampshire and State Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs committee member, Henry W. McElroy Jr., went public with the story of an encounter between Eisenhower and aliens. McElroy did not provide a date for the Eisenhower alien encounter.

In his public statement McElroy claimed to have been shown a document during his tenure referring to knowledge of a "benevolent" extraterrestrial visitation within the US and the possibility of setting up a meeting with President Eisenhower. In a video statement posted to the internet McElroy stated,

The document I saw was an official brief to President Eisenhower. To the best of my memory this brief was pervaded with a sense of hope, and it informed President Eisenhower of the continued presence of extraterrestrial beings here in the United States of America.

The brief seemed to indicate that a meeting between the President and some of these visitors could be arranged as appropriate if desired.

The tone of the brief indicated to me that there was no need for concern, since these visitors were in no way, causing any harm, or had any intentions, whatsoever, of causing any disruption then, or in the future.

While I can’t verify the times or places or that any meeting or meetings occurred directly between Eisenhower and these visitors—-because of his optimism in his farewell address in 1961, I personally believe that Eisenhower did, indeed, meet with these extraterrestrial, off world astronauts.[iv]

McElroy’s story would become one of many such encounter tales told about Eisenhower.

Eisenhower Alien Encounter Story #2 -1953

McElroy was not the only person to say that he reviewed a document that described Eisenhower meeting with aliens.

In October 2012 Gordon Duff, Senior Editor of Veterans Today (VT), went public with another Eisenhower encounter story. According to Duff, 40% of the people who work at VT are professional intelligence officers. VT also has the former heads of four national intelligence agencies.

Duff’s information came from a document that he claimed to have seen in 1981 or 1982. The document, according to Duff, was a document from the Department of Naval Intelligence (a department who many researchers believe has been the key player in the UFO cover-up from day one). The document he claimed to have read was dated August 1977 shortly after President Jimmy Carter took office.

During an October 16 interview with Coast to Coast AM host George Noory Duff made the following fascinating statement:

"In 1982 I was put on the readers group for Majestic Twelve..., I received an original copy, slightly redacted.. done off a typewriter.. dated August 23rd 1977 from the Office of Naval Intelligence. That... ummm... about 12 pages long... I had copy number 5. Done on just plain flimsys, from the... you know that manual Remington typewriter years? ... Well, I read it once... and I was working for a Government agency at the time and had a very high security clearance. It took me 18 months to be cleared for the reading group. I read the documents once and... ahhh... put them back in the envelope... twisted the string around.. (laughs) Returned to sender. Sent them back and found that I could never live knowing what was on those. And then... Years later, lo and behold, almost everything that was in those documents... was later on the plot of the television show X-Files. ... I have been told that Chris Carter was put on the reading group of Majestic Twelve. "

Duff claimed that part of this MJ-12 document involved information stating that in 1953 President Eisenhower had made a deal with hostile group of aliens,

"The document covered the period from 1947 to 1977 when they were produced. They indicated that over this period we had two distinct treaties. There have been more since, I have been told. One [treaty] in 1947, initially with President Truman. One in 1953, with President Eisenhower… The 1953 treaty with President Eisenhower was an agreement, a coercive agreement against the USA on behalf of a hostile alien power that wished to be able to kidnap a number of citizens from the United States, which means of course that they had agreements with other nations as well."

"The numbers were unusually high. (The number mentioned later is 230,000) These were not people that were going to be detained, and probed, and returned. These were people that were going to be detained and butchered. They were very clear about that!" (Empahsis mine.)

Probably because Duff’s claimed aliens were butchering people his story received almost no support by anyone in the UFO research community. His claim that there were treaties with other countries, however, is interesting in light of a letter written by the head of the Canadian flying saucer investigation Wilbert Smith. In a letter dated February 23, 1959 Smith stated,

“For your information EVERY nation of this planet has been officially informed of the existence of the space craft and their occupants from elsewhere, and as nations they must accept responsibility for any lack of action or for any official position which they may take.” (empahsis mine)[v]

The idea of many nations negotiating with the aliens is also interesting in light of a statement made by American journalist Dorothy Killgallen in February 1954 shortly after Duff claimed Eisenhower had met with the aliens. Killgallen hinted that world leaders were involved and that they were planning to gather to discuss the flying saucer situation.

"Flying saucers are regarded as of such vital importance that they will be the subject of a special hush-hush meeting of the world military heads next summer."

Eisenhower Alien Encounter Story #3 -1954

The most prominent story that Eisenhower may have met with the aliens is the 1954 Muroc story. It remains one of the most discussed stories related to the U.S. Presidents and UFOs.

The short version of the story states that there was a meeting with live aliens and Eisenhower that took place at Edwards Air Force Base (then known as Muroc field) while the President and his wife were 110 miles away on a winter holiday at Palms Springs, California in February 1954.

The official records of the President’s trip to Palm Springs are held at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene Kansas, and have been reviewed by various researchers.[vi] "We've had so many requests on that subject,” Eisenhower archivist Jim Leyerzapf stated, “that we have a person who specializes in this."

Most researchers agreed that the trip to California appears to have come up rather suddenly, and that Ike had just returned from a quail shooting vacation in Georgia less than a week before leaving for Palm Springs.

All researchers also agreed on the basic story, that being that on the evening of February 20, 1954, during a weeklong trip to Palm Springs, Eisenhower disappeared from where he was staying at the Smoke Tree Ranch compound, owned by his business friend Paul Helms. The records do not show how this disappearance became apparent to the press corps but they did figure out the president was gone. In fact, the Associated Press had already gone on the wire with the story that the President had suffered a heart attack and was dead.[vii] Minutes later they withdrew the story.

The President’s Press Secretary James Haggerty, who was at a barbeque on the other side of town, was hurried back to meet with and calm down the press. Haggerty told the press that the President had damaged a tooth while eating fried chicken at dinner and had gone to the dentist to have the problem fixed. The White House Press core accepted the explanation and the whole story disappeared when Eisenhower appeared the next morning publically at the local Community Church, despite the fact he didn’t like to go to church.[viii]

Although the press dropped their interest in the disappearance, the UFO community never dropped the story and it has become a key part of UFO lore.

Many researchers have filed reports on the rumored encounter. The first came only days after the event stating that Eisenhower had been spirited off to meet with a group of aliens at Muroc.[ix] In this account the President turned down the alien’s diplomatic offer for technology in exchange for ending the nuclear weapons program, and that shortly thereafter Eisenhower ordered absolute secrecy about anything having to do with UFOs.

The story faded from this history books until the 1980s when research was presented supporting the idea that Eisenhower may actually have gone to Muroc arose. This happened when it was discovered that the story about the President breaking a tooth may have been a cover story given to the press to cover what had really occurred.

In preparing his book the “Roswell Incident” crash researcher Bill Moore came across a source in the Eisenhower administration who lived in Arizona and who was admitting to friends that Eisenhower had actually gone to Muroc.[x]

In 1989 Moore also tracked down and did an interview with the widow of Dr. Francis A. Purcell who was named as the dentist who repaired Eisenhower’s tooth. The widow, according to Moore, “was curiously unable to recall any specifics relating to her husband's alleged involvement in the affair--not even the time of day it had occurred. Yet her memory appeared flawless when asked to relate details of her and her husband's attendance (by presidential invitation) at a steak fry the following evening, where her husband was introduced as "the dentist who had treated the president".[xi]

Other records at the Eisenhower Library also hint that the broken tooth tale was probably a cover story used by the press secretary to cover for the real story. The Eisenhower files show no thank you letter to the dentist despite the records showing thank –you letters to people who brought flowers, people who met the plane, and many other smaller things. The only thing that appeared in the appointment calendar (a record of the President’s movements written after the fact, and usually describing the President’s actions down to the minute) stating “sometime between 8:00 and 10:00pm, the President broke cap off a front tooth and went to a dentist in Palm Springs to have it fixed.”

That same day the President had left his office that compound at 8:55, had arrived at the golf course at 9:10, and started golfing at 9:40. When it came to the dental accident later in the day they couldn’t get a time closer than a two hour window.

Those who came forward to claim Ike was at Muroc and met with aliens included Gerald Light, the head of a Southern California metaphysical organization. In May 1954 he wrote a letter to Meade Layne, the then director of Borderland Sciences Research Associates. In the letter Light actually claimed to have been at Edwards where he saw Ike, the saucers and the aliens. Light wrote,

“I have just returned from Muroc [Edwards Air Force Base]. The report is true -- devastatingly true! I made the journey in company with Franklin Allen of the Hearst papers and Edwin Nourse of Brookings Institute (Truman's erstwhile financial advisor) and Bishop MacIntyre of L.A. (confidential names for the present, please).[xii]

When we were allowed to enter the restricted section (after about six hours in which we were checked on every possible item, event, incident and aspect of our personal and public lives), I had the distinct feeling that the world had come to an end with fantastic realism. For I have never seen so many human beings in a state of complete collapse and confusion, as they realized that their own world had indeed ended with such finality as to beggar description.”

The reality of the ‘other plane’ aeroforms is now and forever removed from the realms of speculation and made a rather painful part of the consciousness of every responsible scientific and political group.

During my two days' visit I saw five separate and distinct types of aircraft being studied and handled by our Air Force officials -- with the assistance and permission of the Etherians!

I have no words to express my reactions. It has finally happened. It is now a matter of history. President Eisenhower, as you may already know, was spirited over to Muroc one night during his visit to Palm Springs recently. And it is my conviction that he will ignore the terrific conflict between the various 'authorities' and go directly to the people via radio and television - if the impasse continues much longer.

From what I could gather, an official statement to the country is being prepared for delivery about the middle of May.[xiii]

Another witness to this Eisenhower contact story comes from the son of a former Navy Commander who claimed that his father had been present at the Eisenhower event. According to Charles L. Suggs, a retired Sgt from the US Marine Corps, his father Charles L. Suggs, (1909-1987) was a former Commander with the US Navy who attended the event. In a 1991 interview with a prominent UFO Suggs stated that according to the father he,

“Accompanied President Ike along with others on Feb. 20th. They met and spoke with 2 white-haired Nordics that had pale blue eyes and colorless lips. The spokesman stood a number of feet away from Ike and would not let him approach any closer.” (Emphasis mine.)

“A second nordic stood on the extended ramp of a bi-convex saucer that stood on tripod landing gear on the landing strip. According to Charlie, there were B-58 Hustlers on the field even though the first one did not fly officially till 1956. These visitors said they came from another solar system.”

“They posed detailed questions about our nuclear testing.”[xiv]

Another witness Desmond Leslie, a former Royal Air Force pilot and co-author of an early book on UFOs, learned from a USAF officer “that a disc, estimated to be 100 feet in diameter, had landed on the runway…men returning from leave were suddenly not allowed back on the base. The disc was allegedly housed under guard in Hanger 27, and Eisenhower was taken to see it.”[xv]

Then there was the testimony of Gabriel Green, a UFO researcher who actually ran for President in 1960. He also claimed to have supporting testimony for the Eisenhower alien encounter. Green claimed to have talked to a military officer who claimed to have witnessed the arrival of the craft at the base. “At the time I was engaged in firing practice, under the command of a General,” the officer told Green. “We were shooting at a number of targets when suddenly five UFOs came flying overhead. The General ordered all the batteries to fire at the craft. We did so, but our fire had no effect on them. We stopped firing, and then we saw the UFOs land at one of the base’s big hangers.”[xvi]

Author Brinsley Le Poer Trench, also had talked to another witness claiming knowledge of the event. His information came from a USAF test pilot who stated that “two of the crafts that landed at the base were cigar shaped and three were saucer shaped. An immediate security blanket was thrown on all of Muroc. The crafts were placed in a hanger, and men returning from leave were not allowed back on base.”

The Colonel claimed that he was one of six people at the meeting and that the meeting had been requested by the aliens who “looked human-like, but not exactly.”

The aliens stated that they wanted to start an “educational program” to make the population “aware of their presence.”

Eisenhower, in reply, stated that he did not think the population was ready, to which the aliens stated they would continue to make isolated contacts with people. This upset Eisenhower greatly.[xvii]

Although none of the research done by anyone can confirm the meeting of the aliens and the President, it was an interesting event if the meeting did take place and nuclear weapons were part of the discussion.

As mentioned above the rumored discussion between Eisenhower and the aliens supposedly involved the stopping of nuclear testing by the American government.

If true it happened only days before the Americans tested the biggest nuclear explosion that has ever been conducted by the American government. It was also a test that went very bad causing the greatest nuclear contamination event ever caused by a weapons test.

The test was called Castle Bravo. It was part of a series of six Operation Castle atmospheric blasts testing thermonuclear weapons small enough to be carried and dropped by aircraft – as compared to the first thermonuclear bomb test in November 1952 which was 82 tons and which Oppenheimer comically stated could only be delivered by “oxcart or ship.”

The test took place on February 28, 1954 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. This was almost exactly a week after the reported Eisenhower alien meeting.

It involved the first test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. Added to this test was a layered flask containing two chemicals tritium (heavy water) and lithium-6-deuteride. It was the “first real test of the ‘Teller-Ulam configuration’ intended to hold the bomb together for an extra hundred millionth of a second, and thus allowing fusion to take place within the tritium and lithium-6-deuteride.” [xviii]

The test went totally out of control, being 250% more powerful than expected and resulting in a bomb 1,000 times the power of the bomb dropped in Hiroshima. The crew in charge of the detonation had to be rescued from a nearby island twenty miles away when radiation detectors told them something serious had gone wrong and their lives were now at risk. Like giant ghosts at Halloween they covered themselves with bed sheets, with holes cut out so they could see, to protect themselves from the radioactive fallout. They ran to a nearby landing pad where helicopters from the command ship rescued them.

The test ended up causing the most significant radiological contamination accident ever caused by the United States government. ($250 million has been paid to try and clean up the mess) The original projection of the size of the test was 4-6 megatons, but the calculations were completely off. The test ended up being 15 megatons.

A total of 5,000 sq miles were contaminated and two islands had to be evacuated because the hundreds of residents were sick from the radioactive fallout. Those evacuated have never returned. There was suddenly a change in the world’s view of nuclear tests, and there was an international call for the end of atmospheric nuclear testing.

Did the aliens know this, and was the meeting a warning? We will probably never know.