Washington, D.C.: House subcommittee holds informal UFO hearing with Air Force briefing
On 8 August 1958, the House Subcommittee on Atmospheric Phenomena of the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration held an informal two-hour UFO hearing in which ATIC Capt. George T. Gregory and Maj. Tacker briefed members.
Background
The House Subcommittee on Atmospheric Phenomena, chaired by Rep. William Natcher (D-Ky.) and part of the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration under Rep. John W. McCormack (D-Mass.), held an informal two-hour hearing on UFOs. McCormack had wanted an extended, unrecorded closed session, but ATIC Capt. George T. Gregory persuaded him to let the Air Force give a briefing, with people like Menzel, Ruppelt and Keyhoe to offer opinions later and NICAP as a whole excluded. The main witnesses were Gregory and Maj. Tacker, and the subcommittee, which also included Kenneth Keating (R-N.Y.) and Lee Metcalf (D-Mont.), commended Gregory on Project Blue Book's “improved” methods. The hearings were to continue the following week, but at the suggestion of scientific consultant Dr. Charles S. Sheldon II no further witnesses were called, which kept Keyhoe from appearing. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.