Truman's oral UFO briefings
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 1948 |
|---|---|
| People | Harry S. Truman, Robert B. Landry |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 40 |
| Year | 1948 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1948 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 4 |
Maj. Gen. Robert B. Landry, President Harry Truman's Air Force aide from 1948 to 1953, said that in 1948 Truman asked him to report every quarter, by word of mouth, on whether any UFO reports received by intelligence agencies posed a threat to national security.[1]
Landry's account
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Landry gave an oral history interview to James R. Fuchs of the Truman Library in Scottsdale, Arizona, on 28 February 1974, and later reviewed the transcript and added material from his records. In a section on UFOs dated 1948, he recalled that reports of objects in the sky — including landings and "little men with big round heads" — were getting a lot of press attention, and that Truman called him to the Oval Office to discuss them. Truman said he had not given the reports much serious thought, but that if there was any evidence of a strategic threat, the collection and evaluation of UFO data by Central Intelligence deserved attention at the highest level.[1]
The briefings
Landry said he was directed to report quarterly after consulting Central Intelligence about whether any UFO incidents had strategic threatening implications. The reports were to be oral unless intelligence considered a case serious enough to warrant a detailed written report. During his four and a half years at the White House, he said, all reports were made orally, and nothing credible or threatening was ever received. He noted that the Air Force had been charged with collecting and evaluating UFO data from all sources.[1]
Interpretation
The interview is published on the Truman Library's website, and Landry's papers are held there. Some researchers point to the absence of a paper trail as significant; others read Landry's account as showing that a president took the subject seriously enough to ask and was told there was nothing to it.[1][2][3]
People and topics
- Harry S. Truman — 33rd U.S. president (1945–53), in office during the first flying disc wave and the start of official UFO studies.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Robert B. Landry — Truman's Air Force aide who said the president asked for quarterly oral briefings on UFOs.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
On the Timeline
- Research and Development Board dismisses the discs (1948) (31 January 1948) — A Pentagon research board publicly dismisses flying saucers as mirages and mass self-hypnosis.
- White Sands blown-window crash claim (1948) (1948) — An anonymous source claims a disc crashed at White Sands with its occupants dead from a blown-out window.
See every 1948 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Oral history interview with Robert B. Landry" (1974), Harry S. Truman Library · trumanlibrary.gov · archived copy
- "Robert B. Landry papers", Harry S. Truman Library · trumanlibrary.gov · archived copy
- "UAP records at presidential libraries", U.S. National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- The Harry Truman UFO files (PDF) — Curiosmos · curiosmos.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Harry S. Truman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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