There are some people who believe that the  President of the United States is privy to all that is going-on and, ultimately, calls the shots, while others insist they are nothing more than a face for the respective government of the time who is on a need-to-know leash, and this is very much the case with UFOs and potential alien encounters. However, it would seem that some Presidents of the United States – certainly when it comes to such matters as UFOs – know more than others.

One researcher who has perhaps done more research than most on the Presidents of the United States and what they might have known about UFOs and aliens is author Paul Blake Smith, who spoke recently to myself and Steve Mera during an episode of The Anomaly Project. Smith has written several books on the subject, including President Eisenhower’s Close Encounters: An Investigation into Eisenhower’s Secret Agreement with Extraterrestrials and The Nixon-Gleason Alien Encounter: An Investigation into Nixon’s Secret Airbase Meetings to View Extraterrestrials, both of which we will return to very shortly.

If we go back to the start of the Modern UFO Era (essentially, the summer of 1947 with such encounters as the Kenneth Arnold sighting and the Roswell crash) we can find President Harry Truman in charge, who, almost certainly, knew much of what was going on in the skies across America at the time.

In fact, to explore both Truman and the person who followed him into the White House, President Eisenhower, we should turn our attention to an alleged UFO crash, once more in the deserts of New Mexico, only this time in the Aztec Desert a little over six months after the more famous and well-known Roswell crash. According to the account, which first entered the public arena courtesy of an alleged leaked document in the late 1980s, on the evening of March 25th, 1948, a disc-shaped metallic object came screeching out of the night sky and crashed into the ground. Although several locals were on the scene a short time later, it didn’t take the United States military long to swoop in and retrieve the remains, whisking them away to, according to the report, White Sands Air Force Base.

Perhaps even more remarkable than the craft itself, though, was the discovery of 16 crew members, 15 of whom were dead, but one, unbelievably, was alive. And it is here, where the story morphs into the involvement of another eventual President of the United States.  

Indeed there is little doubt, one of the most interesting and thought-provoking American Presidents in terms of what they might have known about UFOs and their subsequent actions off the back of that, would be President Eisenhower, who, it would seem, was at the center of several UFO and alien encounters that potentially had far-reaching consequences, and is one that Paul Blake Smith detailed in the previously mentioned President Eisenhower’s Close Encounters. It also unfolded in the wake of the Aztec UFO crash (under President Truman’s watch), when Eisenhower was a high-ranking military commander during Truman’s presidency.

Smith highlighted how an apparent leaked briefing document came to light on a 2017 podcast by Heather Wade. This document detailed how the surviving alien was discreetly transported to a secret facility within the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Even more remarkable, this alien was able to communicate – in English, no less – with its new host, and offered that its name was Setimus. According to descriptions, although he was (by comparison) relatively short, he otherwise had the appearance of an “adult, Earth-like humanoid male!” There were, though, following examinations, some internal differences (although these were not documented, or certainly not leaked). This apparent alien entity had a very specific diet and was “less able to process the wide range of foods” that a human being typically would. Moreover, although he could physically speak, he also appeared to have “telepathic and psychic skills!” Even more remarkable, Setimus was “versed in homo sapien behavior, modern geopolitics, and the planet Earth’s troubled environment!”

This leaked document detailed that Setimus was granted “diplomatic status” and was very happy to answer all scientists’ questions. Perhaps most interesting of all, though, it stated that, “Setimus and his advanced ET species had ‘decided on a long-term program of carefully calculated’ contact with certain humans, including those in the highest levels of American government – like President Dwight D. Eisenhower!”

Of course, we will return to Eisenhower and more of his “contact” with alien representatives shortly. In New Mexico, however, around a year after being recovered from the wreckage, in early 1949, a decision was made to transfer Setimus to a “safe house”, thought to have been somewhere in rural Vermont, and a property that was under the control of the United States intelligence agencies. Smith highlights how this decision, at least on the surface, is a strange one, not least as no one appeared to be even slightly aware of Setimus’ presence in New Mexico, as well as the fact he was more than comfortable at the facility, and not least the obvious risks of transporting a live alien entity across the country that would surely present themselves. However, Smith also points out that Dwight Eisenhower had spent considerable time in rural Vermont, officially on fly fishing trips.

Whatever the truth of the matter, it is said that Setimus spent at least six months of 1949 at this location. And given the connection Eisenhower had to this part of the country, as well as the naming of him specifically in the leaked document, we might consider if he spent a large bulk of that time at the safe house with Setimus. If so, we can only imagine what information might have been given to Eisenhower during this time, and how much, if anything, he shared with anyone else. Then, in early August 1949, Setimus was discreetly transported back to New Mexico, this time to Albuquerque, and specifically, to Kirtland Air Force Base. Even more remarkable, on the evening of August 21st, 1949, an alien craft landed in the remote desert close by, where Setimus boarded the otherworldly vessel and left Earth for a destination unknown.

While it might be tempting, even by some in the UFO community, to dismiss such claims unreservedly, the fact is that Paul Blake Smith not only makes a compelling argument in favor of such claims’ authenticity but also offers documented circumstantial evidence to back them up. For example, regarding the transfer of Setimus from Vermont back to New Mexico and his potential extraction from the planet, he writes:

“Harry Truman’s White House appointment logs for Monday, August 1, 1949, reveal that the Republican Governor of Vermont, of all people, had called Vermont’s Republican Senator George David Aiken the previous week and asked Aiken to set up an appointment with the president for 12:15 pm that day in the Oval Office. It had to have been about something pretty darn important, considering these circumstances!”

Indeed, the important reason could very well have been the transfer of Setimus back to New Mexico, as well as the planned arrival of more visitors from another world. Smith highlights further interesting movements during this time, as he details that “conservative Governor Ernest William Gibson Jr. – a former decorated Army infantryman from rural, small-town Vermont – traveled a long way to chat in private” and off the record with Harry Truman. This conversation was said to have only been 15 minutes long, but Smith writes that “something big was up, it is logical to assume!” Smith also highlighted another secret meeting between a Vermont congressman and President Truman in late July 1949, as well as a meeting in the Oval Office on the afternoon of August 4th, 1949, between President Truman and his Secretary of State and his Defense Secretary. After this meeting, all three men traveled together somewhere to an undocumented location. Even more suspicious, there are no recorded movements of any of the men until five days later. Might we contemplate that they traveled to, and stayed at, the safe house in Vermont?

Of course, around four and a half years later, with Eisenhower a little over a year into his first term as United States President, he is claimed to have been at another meeting with alien representatives. The claims surfaced through another set of leaked documents in 1984, the same documents that contained information on MJ12. According to these documents, on the evening of February 20th, 1954, President Eisenhower was whisked away to a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he is claimed to have met with representatives from two different alien races. What is interesting is that on that date, the official record shows that President Eisenhower disappeared from public view due to requiring emergency dental treatment, something which some people believe is nothing more than a cover story to allow him to move freely behind the scenes away from any kind of public scrutiny. We perhaps need to remember that official press photographers accompanied the President everywhere, and so an excuse such as dental treatment would have been more than sufficient to have them “stand down” while the President recovered, or perhaps, went about his secretive duties.

According to the account, the first of these meetings was with humanoid entities who were very similar in appearance to Setimus. Moreover, they offered ideas of advanced, clean technologies, energies, and medical procedures, although the requirement for humanity accessing this technology was a commitment to move away from fossil fuels. Ultimately, Eisenhower declined to make a deal. Then, only moments later, according to some accounts, the second race of aliens arrived.

Now, here is where we perhaps have to take the report with a certain pinch of salt. The representatives of this alien race were said to be what we would recognize as grey aliens. They also offered Eisenhower a deal for advanced technology that would give the United States exclusive access to do with what they pleased. In return, it is claimed, these extraterrestrials wanted non-resistant (on the part of the military) access to certain members of the population on which they could perform examinations and non-invasive procedures for their own research, after which said members of the population would be returned unharmed and with no knowledge of the experience. Ultimately, and something else we should take with a pinch of salt, these grey alien representatives also stated that should Eisenhower decline the deal, they would make the same exclusive offer to the Soviet Union, which would, as we know, tip the balance of power on the world stage.

We might recall that Setimus was said to have been well-versed in the politics of our planet. We perhaps should not be so surprised that another alien race would also be so, especially if they were, it would seem, much more ruthless and single-minded in their goals. Whatever the truth, it is said that Eisenhower agreed to the deal, or at least some form of it, and advanced technology was indeed given to the United States military, who then, it is claimed, farmed and gifted it out to American companies to develop as their results of human ingenuity. And, of course, one advantage to the military using private companies and corporations is that they are protected from Freedom of Information requests, which very well could have been, in fact, almost certainly was, a part of the thought process in siphoning out this advanced technology.

It is interesting to note that around this time, the United States began to surge ahead in terms of technological advancement compared to most of the rest of the world. Moreover, less than a decade later, people began to experience apparent cases of alien abduction at the hands of strange, grey aliens. Of course, whether this was a coincidence or not remains a part of the mystery. That Eisenhower, and Truman before him, knew more than most United States presidents about UFOs and the intelligence behind them, both before and after, is surely highly likely, if not certain.

Of course, in a similar way to how Eisenhower might have learned much of what he knew working under Truman during his presidency, much the same could be said for Richard Nixon, a President who is an intriguing character in his own right before we even mention UFOs. However, he is also the person around whom one of the most startling UFO and alien claims swirls. Although there have been several various dates put forward for this alleged remarkable event, according to the solid research of the previously mentioned Paul Blake Smith in his book The Nixon-Gleason Alien Encounter, during mid-February 1973, President Nixon would take his good showbiz friend, and paranormal enthusiast, actor and television personality, Jackie Gleason, to a secret military facility and show him proof of extraterrestrial life.

Gleason’s (then) wife – Beverly McKittrick – would speak of the encounter in two separate articles in the National Enquirer – the first in its September 8th, 1974, edition, and the second time – and in much more detail - in the August 16th, 1983, edition. While the first article was much shorter and seemingly inaccurate in some of the details, the second article had much more detail, and between them both, and Smith’s subsequent research since, we have a relatively accurate timeline of events in mid-February 1973.

Following a very public round of golf at the Inverrary Golf and Country Club just outside of Miami in South Florida, on the evening of February 19th, 1973, a knock came at Gleason’s door. Upon answering, the Gleasons were more than shocked to see none other than President Nixon standing there. The two men were friends, but it was most unusual (for obvious reasons) for the President to be out in public with no security whatsoever. It is claimed that Nixon told Gleason that he had “something to show him,” and with that, Jackie Gleason left.

Once more, we have a differing version of events based on the source, with some accounts stating that the pair drove to Homestead Air Force Base a short distance away, with Nixon himself driving. Smith, however, suggests that the pair likely made their way to the military facility on a military helicopter.

Smith wrote that during the interview with the National Enquirer, “Beverly never said that Jackie was driven there. She only wrote that she had heard his key unlocking the front door but said nothing about hearing a car’s motor, voices outside, or a car door!” Moreover, Smith suggested that a helicopter could have landed at the “same nearby helipad on the Inverrary course that Nixon had utilized in his official Marine One chopper (earlier) that day!” Smith continued that “all Jackie had to do was walk or perhaps drive an electric golf cart from his house to the helipad”, and he would have been on his way.

While this might sound outlandish that the President of the United States would venture into an urban area, at night, alone and with no security, it is worth noting the research of Mack Maloney, who offered that, “Nixon was famous for giving his Secret Service detail the slip!” Might he have done this on the evening in question in February 1973? It is certainly a possibility.

However, the pair did travel to the air base. Once they arrived, after Nixon showed his identification, the clearly shocked security stepped back and allowed them entry into the facility. At this point, Gleason, as enthusiastic as he was, was a little apprehensive as he followed Nixon, who himself remained tight-lipped as they negotiated their way through the corridors of the facility. Eventually, Gleason was led into a room where “the wreckage from a flying saucer” was seemingly stored, “enclosed in several large cases!” Then, the television personality was led by the President into another room, in which were several “freezer-like containers!”

As they stepped into the room, Nixon guided Gleason’s attention to what was inside these containers. Cautiously, the actor peered over the top of one of them, and, to begin with, he thought he was looking at the bodies of young children. Then, though, within a matter of seconds, he could see that these bodies – whatever they were – were not human.

He eventually returned home at around 11:30 pm, with Beverly later recalling that he simply “slumped white-faced in an armchair!” He then told his wife what he had seen in the large containers, telling her that he had “seen the bodies of some aliens from outer space!” He described these aliens as having grey skin with large heads, large, dark eyes, and large ears. He further described them as appearing “quite old” and “terribly mangled!” To begin with, she thought her husband was joking with her. However, when she took note of his unusual “pasty skin tone” and his “subdued demeanor,” she realized he was being deadly serious.  He also told her that this was “top secret, (and) only a few people know!”

Interestingly, according to Smith’s book, Gleason was far from pleased with his (then) wife speaking of the encounter to the press in 1974. In fact, Paul Blake Smith writes in The Nixon-Gleason Alien Encounter that when the article came out in the September 1974 edition of the National Enquirer, “Jackie Gleason saw it and exploded. He’d been squealed on, in a sense. His most precious secret was now out, albeit undetailed!” Smith also details how Gleason was still a “Special Agent Contact” of the FBI during this time, and that he felt it was “embarrassing for him to have the White House and the Justice Department find out he leaked one of the biggest sworn secrets in American history right after he had been let in on it!” For his part, Gleason refused to comment publicly on the claims, a move which many people found “puzzling” to say the least. Whatever the truth of the matter, the incident remains one of the most detailed in history involving a United States President and claims of UFOs and alien life.

Ultimately, as outlandish as such a claim might sound to some, the records from the Nixon Library show that he was in Florida on the date of the alleged meeting, and, of course, he was seen publicly at the golf event earlier that day.

Smith also offers a potential reason that Nixon chose to show Gleason these alien entities in the first place. Gleason had been asking the American public for proof of alien life for years, and was willing to pay good money to anyone who could do so, a sum, incidentally, that continued to rise with each request. Around the same time as the alleged incident, the Watergate Scandal that would eventually result in Nixon's resignation was unfolding. Speaking on The Anomaly Project, Paul Blake Smith offered that following the breaking of the Watergate scandal, “the burglars were threatening to talk to investigators and to the media, and it was going to ruin Nixon’s great image and his popularity, and even get him sent to jail!”

Smith continued that Nixon had to suddenly come up with “hush money” to stop these burglars from talking publicly of what they knew, and, in Smith’s opinion, he likely got this money from offering his good friend, Jackie Gleason, who had publicly stated he would pay a large amount of money to see proof of alien life, a tour of the top-secret facility and the proof which he so desperately sought. Smith highlighted how, according to the tape recordings from the White House (that Nixon himself recorded), that Nixon was “really upset in January 1973”, with him being heard saying on the White House tapes, “This damn hush money, where are we going to get this?” Then, only weeks later – and after the alleged Nixon-Gleason encounter – he was suddenly “all calm about the hush money”, being heard saying on the recordings that, “Oh, we’ve got that. I know where we can get our hands on that. It’s not a problem!”

Smith went on to highlight just how wealthy Jackie Gleason was – said to have been worth around 14 million dollars at the time – and that he had literally offered “a million dollars to anyone who can show me hard proof!” of alien life. Ultimately, Smith stated that he believed “Nixon took him up on this” and, for a price, offered to show him the alien bodies at Homestead Air Force Base.

Interestingly, Smith also pointed out that the creatures Jackie Gleason later described, while having some similarities to a typical grey alien, appeared more like the entities in the infamous Hopkinsville or Kentucky Goblins case, with Smith describing them as “an exact match” to the creatures of that particularly harrowing encounter. We know that authorities did attend the property that evening. Is it possible they obtained more than the families involved realized? Or, at the very least, does it suggest that there is a persistent presence of these large-eared aliens on our planet? While we won’t go into them in detail here, there are more encounters with such creatures in connection with UFO events than many people might think.

It is worth pointing out that following his viewing of the alien entities – if indeed that is what they were – Gleason was taken to a “an air base hangar that you can see from the highway” and, once inside, he was shown a “silver, round spaceship that was kind of what I call alive, it was up in the air being held down by tethers…and Jackie got a good look at this silver disc!” As Smith says, if there is any truth to the claims – and it appears to very well could be – Jackie Gleason certainly “got his money’s worth!”

Of course, one of the most interesting presidents of modern times is undoubtedly Ronald Reagan, who not only had a great interest in UFOs but even claimed to have had two sightings of his own. Although the date isn’t certain, the first of these is thought to have happened somewhere between 1967 and 1975, while Reagan was the Governor of California, although he still enjoyed the company of many of his Hollywood contacts and friends. On this particular evening, he, along with his wife, Nancy, and two of their friends, Lucille Ball and William Holden, were on their way to just such a Hollywood party. On their way, though, they noticed a strange light that appeared to be flying at the same level as their car as they made their way along the quiet highway before landing in a nearby field.

According to the story, Reagan stopped the car moments later in order to try to get a better look at this strange object. He did so for several moments before getting back in the car and setting off to their destination. However, when they arrived at the party, they were over an hour late, and Reagan was eager to speak of what they had seen during their journey. Of course, the implication of missing time, at least to some, is perhaps suggestive of an alien abduction scenario.

Reagan’s second UFO encounter occurred in late 1974, while he was being flown back to Bakersfield, California, by pilot Bill Paynter. Suddenly, out of nowhere, both men saw a bizarre “bright object” appear a short distance from their aircraft, which then followed their aircraft for a considerable time, bobbing and weaving around it as it did so. After several moments, it shot off into the distance with alarming speed and disappeared. Paynter would later state that, “This really did happen. We saw it, I saw it, (and) Reagan told me to follow it!” Although Paynter did attempt to keep up with the object, it had vanished within seconds.

The previously mentioned Paul Blake Smith detailed how Reagan was extremely excited by the sighting, even speaking about it at a press conference several weeks later. However, when he was asked outright by a reporter if he “believed in UFOs,” he suddenly began to back away slightly and become much more hesitant to speak of the incident.

Reagan also made some intriguing comments while in the White House, perhaps not least to the famous film director, Steven Spielberg, who Reagan seemingly had an interesting interaction with during a special, private screening of the movie ET: The Extraterrestrial in the White House in 1982. According to legend, Reagan is alleged to have turned to Spielberg during the screening and commented on “how surprised” people would be if they “realized how true this is!” For years, most people dismissed the comments as either taken out of context or as being outright untrue. However, in 2008, following the release of his film Super 8, Spielberg addressed the claims during a promotional interview. He stated that not only was the comment true, but that Reagan had actually said to him that “there are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true!” Perhaps as a caveat to the whole affair, Spielberg claimed to have taken the comment as nothing but a joke from Reagan, although he also noted that the former President said it with a very straight face.

Whatever the truth, it is known that Reagan maintained an active interest in the subject of UFOs, as well as the possibilities of alien life, and even the ancient astronaut theory, with him even making some remarkable commentary in his diaries about connections between extraterrestrials and ancient Egypt. It is one particular entry in his diaries in April 1985 – released in 2009 in the book The Reagan Diaries – that made a lot of people sit up a little. It read:

“Lunch with five top space scientists. It was fascinating. Space truly is the last frontier and some of the developments there in astronomy etc. are like science fiction, except they are real. I learned that our shuttle capacity is such that we could orbit 300 people!”

We might ask just what Reagan was alluding to in this entry. At the time, for example, NASA could – officially at least – only accommodate eight astronauts at most. Did Reagan know a secret spacecraft that could orbit hundreds of people? Or was he briefed on a theoretical NASA spacecraft not yet developed and simply took it as fact? Although there is perhaps some credibility to the notion that Reagan’s grasp of the situation deteriorated during his presidency, we might imagine he was mentally competent enough to know the difference between a proposed spacecraft still to be developed and an active spacecraft (then) currently in orbit.

Some researchers have also highlighted some of the wording Reagan used in several of his speeches during his time as President. In one speech, for example, given to the United Nations in 1987, he made several references to an “alien threat” which, although it has been explained away as meaning alien to American and the West’s interests, has caused some people to question just what Reagan was speaking of. The following year, in 1988, during another speech he made with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan stated – completely matter-of-factly, incidentally – that he “occasionally thinks how quickly our differences, worldwide, would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world!”

With all of this in mind, arguably one of the most intriguing UFO stories connected to President Reagan is one not directly connected to him, but his one-time Chief Military Advisor of the White House, Major General Robert Schweitzer. According to the account, in September of 1981, less than a year into Reagan’s first term as President, a letter arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from a former United States military veteran, Colman VonKeviczky. VonKeviczky, who had turned to UFO research after leaving the military, had written and sent almost identical letters to various Presidents of the United States in the years previously, as well as several UN Secretaries General. In it, he stated that there was a “substantial alien threat” facing humanity, and that governments of the world must unite to resist it (very similar, incidentally, to the strange speech by Reagan we highlighted earlier).

As we might imagine, VonKeviczky received no replies to any of these letters – that is, until this one. Several weeks later, a reply came from Major General Schweitzer, who claimed that, “The President is well aware of the threat that you document so clearly and is doing all in his power to restore the national defense margin of safety as quickly and prudently as possible!” There have been many interpretations of this response, including that it was nothing but a polite, tongue-in-cheek reply. What is certain, however, is that Schweitzer was discreetly dismissed by the White House only weeks later on October 26th – we should perhaps make of that what we will.

It is also worth our time briefly exploring UFO connections to Reagan’s predecessor, President Jimmy Carter, who not only witnessed a UFO in 1969 while campaigning to be Governor of Georgia, but would also make an official report of the incident. Moreover, several years later, in 1976 when campaigning to become President, he promised, and seemingly tried, to have many of the government’s UFO files released to the public (it is worth noting, that while he did release many UFO documents during his presidency, the anticipated “disclosure” of information was not forthcoming). It is said that Carter, even just for himself, did attempt to have the UFO files released, contacting the FBI, NASA, and even the CIA. While the CIA and NASA (under the CIA’s orders) outright refused, the FBI simply stated that they had no UFO files to release. In a further twist to the claims, according to the files of UFO researcher Richard Dolan, during the summer of 1977, not long after issuing his requests for information, Carter was part of a briefing session on UFOs. There is no information on what he was told, but it is said that following this briefing session, President Carter sat at his desk with his head in his hands, weeping.

With Carter’s apparent experience in the White House in mind, it is worth examining the thoughts of UFO researcher, Grant Cameron, who suggested in the television documentary UFOs: The White House Files, that all United States Presidents are told standard information regarding UFOs, perhaps the very reason why they need to remain secret. Perhaps this information is not only sobering and clarifying, but seemingly disturbing. Indeed, we might contemplate not only what might be so disturbing that it needs to be kept from the general public, seemingly at all costs, but so disturbing that it could bring the President of the United States to tears. We might ask, if Cameron is correct, and all Presidents of the United States receive such a briefing, how others in the White House might have reacted to such information.

It isn’t just United States Presidents of the modern world who have seemingly had encounters with strange flying objects. In 1800, for example, future President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, described a UFO in a telegram that had been witnessed by a local man (William Dunbar) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He stated that the strange object was “the color of the sun near the horizon” and was approximately the size of a house. Moreover, it was so bright that it caused a bright glow on the ground directly below it. Jefferson continued that a “violent rushing noise” accompanied the strange aerial vehicle, as well as an occasional “tremendous crash” (which we might assume to be a description of something breaking the sound barrier).

Almost a quarter of a century earlier, during the bitterly cold winter of 1777, and with his men on the verge of physical, mental, and emotional collapse due to the conflict with the British, George Washington was seemingly visited by strange, otherworldly entities. The account was relayed by Anthony Sherman, who claimed he was at Valley Forge (where the incident took place) with Washington. His account appeared in several newspapers, the first in an article written by Wesley Bradshaw in the National Tribune in 1859, and was even placed in the Library of Congress. According to the article, Washington received several visits from strange “green-skinned warriors” who offered him advice on British troop positions, even offering specific locations where Washington’s attacks would be most effectively launched from. They also, it would seem, showed him visions of the future. Washington was quoted in the article as saying, “I cast my eyes upon America and beheld villages and towns and cities springing up one after another until the whole land from the Atlantic to the Pacific was dotted with them!” Indeed, if this is an accurate account, it would appear these “green-skinned warriors” had a vested interest in America maintaining its independence from the British and for it to succeed in becoming, arguably, the superpower of the planet.

As we might imagine, there have been many explanations put forward to explain who these strange figures were, with most mainstream historians insisting they were nothing more than Native Americans who wore green war paint. One researcher who dismisses such explanations is author Quentin Burde, who has extensively researched what he believes are specific points of extraterrestrial intervention in human history. He offers that if the “green-skinned warriors” were Native American tribes, Washington would have said so, and he also made reference to “green globes in the sky” at the same time in his diaries, which would also appear to speak of an otherworldly encounter. Burde believes the figures were almost certainly alien entities, likely with green or glowing skin, or perhaps even glowing attire.

Of course, it will sound preposterous to some that alien entities should visit Earth, much less take an active interest in human affairs. However, before we move on, it is worth exploring another bizarre incident that took place during America’s conflicts with the British, this time in 1814 during the War of 1812. On the day in question – a hot, sunny day – American forces were once more on the verge of defeat, with British troops advancing with alacrity on Washington, DC. As soon as they arrived, they set about burning the city to the ground, with American soldiers unable to do more than look on helplessly. The sheer heat of the weather, which presented particularly dry conditions, meant that the flames took hold and spread with ease. Even the White House was eventually engulfed. Then, in what many believe was merely a bizarre coincidental twist of fate, the skies suddenly turned grey, then almost black, while heavy rain poured over the burning city, extinguishing the flames. To some, this was something close to divine intervention, and we might add that in the modern era, some have looked back on the incident being one that was orchestrated by an intelligent force.

It might be easy to dismiss such claims as nothing but nonsense – that is, if it weren’t for what happened next. Almost as soon as the flames were smothered, a sudden tornado formed (and we should remember, this is not an area of the United States that typically experiences tornadoes). Then, with strangely precise accuracy, it headed straight for the British troops who were on Capitol Hill. Many were killed in the onslaught, and those who survived fled. Of course, whether this was some kind of alien intervention or simply a freak weather event is perhaps open to interpretation. It certainly gives us something to think about, however.

We might ask, then, is it simply a numbers game, and does the law of averages suggest that a certain number of United States presidents would have had some kind of encounter or knowledge of UFOs? Or is it their position on the world stage that marks them as requiring such knowledge, even if that knowledge comes from the intelligence behind the UFOs themselves (such people who had encounters long before they were President, such as Reagan or Carter)? It has to be said, the most likely of those possibilities is the former, and we could highlight a president who we have not explored here, but who likely is one of the most powerful men, not just presidents, in United States history, and certainly someone who very likely knew more than most about UFOs and alien secrecy, not least due to his strong connections to the inner workings of the CIA, George HW Bush, who served in the White House between 1989 to 1993, while also being President Reagan’s Vice President for the entirety of his two terms (with some researchers convinced that Bush most likely “pulled the strings” of the Reagan administration). Indeed, given his close connections to Bill Clinton, who served two terms in the White House after Bush Sr., as well as his own son’s two terms following the elections of 2000 and 2004, a compelling argument could be made that George Bush Sr. was close to the heart of power in American politics and intelligence (at the very least) for close to three decades, even longer when we consider his high-ranking status in the intelligence community before that. Despite this apparent high-ranking status in terms of UFO knowledge, Bush himself, at least to the best of anyone’s knowledge, never had a UFO encounter (at least outside of what he might have witnessed behind closed government doors).

Of course, he has made some cryptic comments about his alleged knowledge of UFOs, some of which Paul Blake Smith discussed on The Anomaly Project. He stated that during his son, Jeb’s, unsuccessful campaign to be President of the United States, George Bush was asked a question by a journalist about UFOs, ultimately, “Are we being visited?” Bush, instead of remaining calm, snapped back that he “knows plenty, but I’m not saying. You know I know about the UFOs!” Bush Sr. was ushered out of the press conference shortly afterwards. Smith also highlights another occasion where Bush Sr. seemingly let his guard slip regarding what he might know about UFOs and aliens. On the same show, he relayed the comments of a filmmaker who was on a flight with Bush. He claimed that Bush, who had downed several drinks during the flight, suddenly offered that he had not believed anything about UFOs and alien life, until he was “shown footage of an extraterrestrial that we had captured!” Of course, as Smith points out, there is, unfortunately, no one who has come forward to corroborate that particular account. It is, though, thought-provoking, at the very least.

Indeed, there is another famous quote of Bush saying about UFOs and aliens that he “knows some” of what was going on in a moment of candidness. We just might find that he knows a lot more than just “some” of the story. A lot more.