John McCormack's doubts about the Air Force (1961)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 16 February 1961 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | John McCormack |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 64 |
| Year | 1961 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1961 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
On 16 February 1961, according to UFO chronologies, House Majority Leader John W. McCormack of Massachusetts said the Air Force had not been giving out all the information it had on UFOs. McCormack became Speaker of the House the following year.[1][2]
McCormack and UFOs
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McCormack (1891–1980) served in the House from 1928 to 1971 and was Speaker from 1962 to 1971. In 1958 a Subcommittee on Atmospheric Phenomena of the House Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration, which McCormack chaired, held closed hearings on UFOs.[2][3]
The remark
Chronologies say that about a year earlier McCormack and other congressional committees had been briefed by the Air Force and told that no government agency was withholding UFO information, and they present his 1961 remark as showing he doubted those assurances. The quotation appears in books and chronologies, but its original publication — a newspaper report or the Congressional Record — has not been located, so its exact wording and context are uncertain.[1][4]
Context
In the late 1950s and early 1960s the civilian group NICAP, led by retired Marine Maj. Donald Keyhoe, campaigned for public congressional hearings on UFOs, but several efforts were abandoned. The first public hearing came only in April 1966, when the House Armed Services Committee heard Air Force witnesses after public anger at the "swamp gas" explanation for sightings in Michigan, leading to the Condon study at the University of Colorado.[3]
Significance
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If accurate, the remark is significant because it came from one of the most senior members of Congress and shows that doubts about the Air Force's openness reached the House leadership.[1][2]
People and topics
- John McCormack — House Majority Leader and Speaker who chaired a 1958 UFO briefing and doubted the Air Force.
- 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.
- Michigan swamp gas UFO reports — A 1966 wave of UFO reports in Michigan that J. Allen Hynek suggested might be marsh gas.
On the Timeline
- Philip Corso's Roswell claims (1961) — Army Col. Philip Corso claims he handled autopsy reports and recovered alien artifacts.
- Air Force proposals to improve UFO work (1961) (17 March 1961) — Asked how to improve UAP work, the Air Force suggests a raise for adviser J. Allen Hynek and a new camera.
See every 1961 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "UAP, UFO, aliens and NHI chronology: 1961–1980", Amplenote · public.amplenote.com · archived copy
- John W. McCormack — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Paul McCarthy, "The Roush hearings" (dissertation chapter), Project 1947 · project1947.com · archived copy
- Richard Dolan, *UFOs and the National Security State*, Google Books · books.google.com · archived copy
- cia.gov · cia.gov · archived copy
- books.google.com · books.google.com · archived copy
Further reading
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — 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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