George H.W. Bush and the Trudeau briefing
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 10
| Claimant | Eric W. Davis, physicist, recounting a private conversation with George H. W. Bush |
|---|---|
| Claim | Bush recalled being briefed by Lt. Gen. Arthur Trudeau, around the time of 1960s House Armed Services Committee hearings under Mendel Rivers, about Trudeau's aide Philip Corso |
| Bush in Congress | U.S. Representative for Texas's 7th district from January 1967 to January 1971; member of Ways and Means |
| Related book | Philip J. Corso, The Day After Roswell (1997) |
| Likely published source | Jacques Vallée's journals, Forbidden Science 5 (2023); not readable online |
| Status | Rests on Davis's account of a private conversation; Bush (died 2018) never spoke of it publicly |
| Date | 17 October 2006 |
| Topics | Beings & bodies (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Eric W. Davis, Arthur Trudeau, Mendel Rivers, Philip J. Corso |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 164 |
| Year | 2006 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2006 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 10 |
The physicist Eric Davis has said that former President George H. W. Bush told him he recalled being briefed by Lieutenant General Arthur Trudeau about Trudeau's aide, Philip Corso. Bush placed the briefing around the time of House Armed Services Committee hearings in the 1960s, when the committee was chaired by Mendel Rivers.[1][5][8] Corso later claimed, in The Day After Roswell (1997), that while working for Trudeau in the early 1960s he had handled technology from a crashed alien craft.[1][6] The story rests only on Davis's description of a private conversation. Bush never spoke of it publicly, and the published version of it could not be checked.[8]
The claim
Davis has been reported to have asked Bush about Corso. According to accounts of a journal entry by Jacques Vallée dated 26 March 2004, Davis said he had put Corso's claims to Bush. One question was whether Corso might have mistaken Soviet technology for alien technology.[8] The briefing story adds that Bush remembered hearing about Corso from Trudeau himself, decades earlier.[8] The journals were published in 2023 as Forbidden Science 5: Pacific Heights, covering 2000 to 2009. Only the book's catalogue page could be read, not its text, so the exact wording of the briefing story, and whether it appears there, could not be confirmed.[8]
The people
- Arthur Trudeau (1902–1991). A West Point graduate and Korean War commander, he became chief of Army intelligence in October 1953. He was relieved about 20 months later, after a complaint from CIA Director Allen Dulles, and was known for his vigorous anti-Communism. He was director of Army research and development from 1958 until he retired in 1962. He then headed Gulf Oil's Gulf Labs until 1968 and advised Rockwell International until 1972.[9]
- Philip Corso (1915–1998). An Army officer from February 1942 to March 1963, he retired as a lieutenant colonel. His service record shows him assigned to the Foreign Technology Division as a staff officer in June 1961. He was its chief only from April to July 1962, when he moved to the Plans Division of the Office of the Chief of Research and Development.[4] He worked for Senator Strom Thurmond from March 1963 to December 1964 and again in 1973–74.[6]
- Mendel Rivers (1905–1970). The South Carolina Democrat chaired the House Armed Services Committee from 1965, when he succeeded Carl Vinson, until his death in December 1970. He was a strong backer of military spending and of the Vietnam War.[5]
- George H. W. Bush. He was elected to the House for Texas's 7th district in 1966 and served from 1967 to 1971. As a freshman Republican he was given a seat on the Ways and Means Committee.[10]
The timeline
The dates in the story do not line up neatly:[4][5][9][10]
- Rivers's chairmanship began in 1965.
- Bush did not enter the House until January 1967, and he sat on Ways and Means, not Armed Services.
- Trudeau had left the Army in 1962 and was running Gulf Labs during Rivers's chairmanship.
- Corso had retired in March 1963.
A briefing in the Rivers years would therefore have come from a retired general about a retired officer. The sources do not say what hearings were meant, or in what capacity Trudeau would have briefed Bush. Bush's own words, as relayed by Davis, are not available to settle the point.[8]
Corso's book
The Day After Roswell, written with William J. Birnes and published by Pocket Books in July 1997, made these claims:[1][4][6]
- The files. As a Pentagon officer in the early 1960s, Corso inherited a cabinet of Roswell debris and passed pieces to defense contractors.
- The spin-offs. The resulting reverse engineering led to integrated circuits, lasers, fibre optics, particle-beam devices and Kevlar.
- The group. A covert group under the first Director of Central Intelligence, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, controlled the secret.
- Trudeau's role. Trudeau was Corso's boss and old friend, and brought him into the Pentagon secretly through a back door because "they're already watching you, Phil".
Trudeau, who died in 1991, could not respond to the book.[9] The Publishers Weekly page for the book could not be read in full.[7]
The criticism
The book was widely criticised:[1][2][4][6]
- Thurmond. He had written its foreword believing it a memoir and withdrew support: "I know of no such 'cover-up,' and do not believe one existed."
- Karl Pflock. He had met Corso in 1993 and "dismissed him as a blowhard loony tune". He noted that the first CORONA launch, which the book credits partly to Corso and Trudeau, came two years before Corso's Pentagon posting.
- Brad Sparks. Writing in the Skeptical Inquirer, he checked the book against Trudeau's record. Trudeau arrived at Army R&D headquarters on 5 May 1961. Corso's account of then confronting the CIA's Frank Wisner at Langley was impossible, since Wisner had been replaced and the Langley building was not yet open.
- Jan Aldrich. Working from Corso's Officer Qualification Record, he found that Corso had headed the Foreign Technology Division for 90 days, and was absent for 15 of them.
Stanton Friedman's review of the book is hosted on Medium, which refuses automated access. It could not be read.[3]
Assessment
The story depends on Davis's recollection of what Bush told him privately. Bush died in 2018 and never discussed it in public.[8] Its time frame sits awkwardly with the documented careers of the people involved.[4][9][10] The book that prompted Davis's questions is widely regarded as unreliable. Even if Bush did hear about Corso from Trudeau, that would show only that the two men's connection was known, not that Corso's claims were true.[1][2]
People and topics
- Eric W. Davis — Physicist who worked on AAWSAP and has said the U.S. holds recovered craft.
- Arthur Trudeau — Head of Army Research and Development in the early 1960s and Philip Corso's boss.
- House Armed Services Committee — The House committee that held a UFO hearing in 1966.
- Mendel Rivers — Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during the 1966 UFO hearing.
- Philip J. Corso — Army officer who claimed in The Day After Roswell that he seeded alien technology into industry.
- The Day After Roswell — The Day After Roswell
On the Timeline
- Henry Deacon (October 2006) — A physicist using a pseudonym claims secret physics is decades ahead of public science.
- O'Hare Airport UFO sighting (01 Jan 2007) — The FAA calls a disc seen over O'Hare airport a weather phenomenon despite many reports.
See every 2006 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- Philip J. Corso — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- The Day After Roswell — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.com · archived copy
- Brad Sparks's review — Skeptical Inquirer (PDF) · cdn.centerforinquiry.org · archived copy
- Stanton Friedman's review of The Day After Roswell · medium.com · archived copy
- Philip J. Corso case file — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- L. Mendel Rivers — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- The senator and the UFOs (Thurmond withdraws Corso foreword) — Government Executive, 1997 · govexec.com · archived copy
- The Day After Roswell — Publishers Weekly review · publishersweekly.com · archived copy
- amazon.com · amazon.com · archived copy
- Arthur Trudeau — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- George H. W. Bush — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “L. Mendel Rivers”, “Arthur Trudeau”, “George H. W. Bush”, “Arthur Trudeau”, “George H. W. Bush”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
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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