Jimmy Carter had a well-documented UFO sighting in Georgia in 1969, several years before he became governor and eight years before becoming President. The incident is particularly interesting because Carter was a trained Navy officer and nuclear engineer, and he later personally filed a written report describing what he saw. The National Archives confirms that the Carter Presidential Library holds the report.
The sighting occurred near Leary, Georgia, while Carter was attending a Lions Club meeting where he was scheduled to give a speech. The original report was filed several years later, in 1973, after the International UFO Bureau asked him to document the experience.
Carter described a very bright object or light in the sky. It appeared to be approximately the size of the Moon at its brightest. It changed colors, including blue, white, and red. The image appeared to move toward him and then away. He watched it for roughly 10–12 minutes.
Approximately 10–12 other people were reportedly watching it with him. Carter’s written report described the object as apparently luminous rather than solid. The report also indicates that the observation occurred after dark, with stars visible.
Carter’s original 1973 report apparently gave the date as October 1969. A later examination of Lions Club records established that the meeting at which Carter spoke was actually held on January 6, 1969, at approximately 7:15 p.m. Modern accounts therefore generally use that date, although Carter himself originally remembered the event as occurring in October.
One proposed explanation for the sighting has been the planet Venus. Skeptic Robert Sheaffer argued that Venus was exceptionally bright that evening and was located in the appropriate region of the sky. However, if Carter’s description of the object’s apparent size is taken literally, Venus becomes a very poor explanation.
The Moon spans about half a degree across the sky, while even at its largest apparent size Venus is only about one-thirtieth the Moon’s diameter and appears to the unaided eye essentially as an extremely bright point of light. Atmospheric glare can make Venus seem somewhat larger or cause it to shimmer and change color near the horizon, but it cannot give the planet an actual Moon-sized visible disk.
Carter reported that the luminous object at its brightest appeared approximately the size of the Moon, changed between blue, white, and red, changed in apparent size, and seemed to move toward the observers and then away again during the roughly ten-to-twelve-minute observation.
A planet would maintain essentially the same position and angular size over such a short period. For these reasons, particularly the enormous difference between the apparent sizes of Venus and the Moon, Venus does not satisfactorily account for Carter’s reported observation. Whatever Carter and the other witnesses saw, dismissing the entire incident simply as a sighting of Venus leaves several important elements of their description unexplained.
However, years later researchers examined the records of the Lions Club in Leary, Georgia, where Carter said he had been preparing to give a speech when the sighting occurred. Those records indicate that Carter actually spoke to the club on January 6, 1969. If that was indeed the night of the sighting, an important piece of evidence emerges that may explain what Carter and the other witnesses saw.
On that same evening, the U.S. Air Force was conducting an upper-atmosphere experiment from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. According to a U.S. space-science report, a rocket released a large barium cloud at approximately 7:35 p.m. EST, only about twenty minutes after the time Carter remembered seeing the object. The barium was released at an altitude of approximately 152 kilometers, or about 94 miles, where it could still be illuminated by sunlight even though it was already dark on the ground.
The location also fits Carter’s account remarkably well. Eglin Air Force Base is approximately 234 kilometers from Leary, Georgia, in a west-southwesterly direction. From Leary, a barium cloud at the reported altitude would have appeared roughly 33 degrees above the horizon. Carter estimated that the mysterious object was about 30 degrees above the horizon and reported that it appeared in the western part of the sky.
Even more significant is the object’s appearance. Carter described it as luminous rather than solid, initially bluish and later reddish, changing in brightness and apparent size. That is consistent with the behavior of an artificial barium cloud in the upper atmosphere. Barium illuminated by sunlight can initially produce a bluish or greenish glow, while portions of the cloud can become reddish as the material ionizes. As the cloud rapidly expands and disperses, its apparent size, shape, brightness, and position can also seem to change to observers on the ground.
This explanation also fits Carter’s statement that the object became approximately the apparent size of the Moon. Unlike Venus, which remains essentially a brilliant point of light to the unaided eye, an expanding chemical cloud can cover a substantial area of the sky.
Therefore, if the Lions Club records have correctly established January 6, 1969 as the actual date of Carter’s sighting, the barium-cloud experiment from Eglin Air Force Base is probably the strongest explanation for the mysterious object. The date, approximate time, direction, altitude, colors, luminosity, changing apparent size, and non-solid appearance all correspond closely with what Carter reported. It cannot be proven with absolute certainty that the barium cloud was what Carter saw, but the coincidence is sufficiently strong that it offers a far more convincing explanation than the planet Venus.
Ronald Reagan’s UFO Observations
Ronald Reagan’s best-known UFO sighting occurred in 1974, when he was governor of California, rather than President. According to the account, Reagan was flying in a Cessna Citation toward Bakersfield, California. There were reportedly four people aboard: Reagan, pilot Bill Paynter, and two security personnel. As they approached Bakersfield, someone noticed a strange light behind the aircraft.
The object was described as: A bright white light.Initially appearing to be several hundred yards away. Moving at roughly the aircraft’s speed. Then apparently accelerating enormously. Appearing to elongate as it accelerated. Finally shooting upward at approximately a 45-degree angle. Paynter later described the acceleration as extraordinarily rapid—far beyond what he expected from an ordinary aircraft. Reagan himself reportedly told journalist Norman C. Miller, then the Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, about the incident about a week afterward. Reagan said they had followed the object for several minutes and that it eventually went straight upward into the sky.
According to Miller’s account, when the journalist began expressing skepticism, Reagan suddenly realized that he was talking to a reporter. Miller said Reagan became visibly uncomfortable and essentially stopped discussing the incident. That is one reason the story has remained famous in UFO literature: it wasn’t originally presented as a dramatic public UFO claim by Reagan himself. Rather, it emerged through the recollections of the pilot and journalist.
The sighting is interesting because there appear to have been multiple witnesses, including the governor and his pilot, but there is no physical evidence establishing that the object was an extraterrestrial craft. The extraordinary acceleration could have resulted from an unusual visual effect, an atmospheric phenomenon, another aircraft viewed under unusual circumstances, or something genuinely unidentified. “UFO” in its literal sense simply means that the observers couldn’t identify what they saw.
There is also an important distinction between this story and some later claims about Reagan: the 1974 Bakersfield incident is the substantially better-known and better-documented Reagan UFO story. The National Archives confirms that the Reagan Library holds extensive UFO-related records, although that does not itself prove Reagan’s particular sighting was extraterrestrial.
Interestingly, Reagan later became quite interested in the possibility of extraterrestrial life. As president, he famously discussed the hypothetical possibility of an alien threat with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, saying that humanity might put aside its differences if confronted by such a threat.
Another UFO sighting by Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan.There is a second, much less well-documented Reagan UFO story involving both Ronald and Nancy Reagan. It is quite different from the famous 1974 Bakersfield airplane incident.
The Ronald and Nancy Reagan– roadside UFO story
The story supposedly took place in California in the 1950s, before Ronald Reagan became governor. Reagan and Nancy Davis were driving to a Hollywood dinner party when they allegedly encountered a strange object along the Pacific coast. According to the story, they stopped their car to watch it.The commonly repeated version says: Reagan and Nancy were driving to a social gathering. They saw a strange light or object moving along the coast. Reagan stopped the car so they could get a better look. They watched it for a short time. They then continued to the party. They reportedly arrived late and visibly excited or disturbed, telling people that they had seen a UFO.
There is also a version of the story in which the Reagans experienced an unexplained period of missing time, but that part is much less reliable and appears to have been added to the story later. There is no solid evidence that they were abducted. The 1974 sighting has considerably stronger documentation.
While Reagan was governor of California, he was flying toward Bakersfield aboard a Cessna Citation. Pilot Bill Paynter and two security personnel were aboard with him. They reportedly saw a bright object behind the aircraft. Paynter later described it as initially appearing like a steady light, then suddenly accelerating and appearing to elongate before shooting upward at an extraordinary speed.
Reagan later told journalist Norman C. Miller about the incident. He said he had looked out the window, saw a white light zigzagging, and asked the pilot whether he had ever seen anything like it. Reagan then reportedly told the pilot, “Let’s follow it!” They followed it toward Bakersfield before it suddenly went almost straight upward. Importantly, Reagan said that after getting off the plane, he told Nancy about that sighting. So Nancy was not aboard the 1974 aircraft; she learned about it afterward.
This is where an important distinction needs to be made. The Bakersfield incident has a first-hand account from Reagan and corroboration from the pilot. The earlier Nancy-and-Ronald roadside story is largely based on later recollections and UFO literature.
I would therefore classify it as a reported anecdote rather than a firmly established historical event. There is no good evidence that the object was extraterrestrial. It could have been an aircraft, astronomical object, atmospheric phenomenon, or something else that the Reagans couldn’t identify. Interestingly, Reagan’s interest in UFOs appears to have been genuine.
Years later, as president, he repeatedly discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life and even used the hypothetical threat of an alien invasion as an example of something that could unite humanity.
So, in short, there are two famous Reagan UFO stories: 1950s California — Ronald and Nancy together allegedly see a UFO while driving. Poorly documented. 1974 near Bakersfield, California — Reagan and his pilot see a strange light from an airplane and reportedly follow it. Much better documented and supported by the pilot’s account.
