Where is Harry Truman's statement on flying saucers?

Question

I found a clip on YouTube of President Truman talking to reporters about UFOs and flying saucers.&#160; Is there a complete recording of this at the National Archives or the Truman Library? Thank you!

Tammy Williams · Accepted Answer

Due to the fabulous sleuthing of a recent Truman Library researcher, we have more to add to this topic. There is a longer clip of Mr. Truman's press conference online at Historic Films.com, which gives context clues as to the location and timing of this press conference. We have been able to determine that the press conference was in Ohio (probably Cleveland) on October 3, 1958. The Truman Library does not have this footage. Now that we know the details of where and when it was recorded, we encourage you to seek out local Ohio media sources, and check with the larger newsreel libraries to see if you can find the original footage in their holdings. Thank you, Shepherd Johnson, for helping us to answer this question!

Tammy Williams · Answer

Greetings from the Truman Library, Thank you for your question! We have been asked about that flying saucer clip several times--it seems to be posted in a few different places on YouTube. So far we've had no luck finding this film in our holdings. It appears to be some sort of press conference, but the words don't match any transcript that we have in Mr. Truman's Public Papers, which cover the public statements of President Truman while he was in office. That, coupled with how Mr. Truman looks in the film and the unknown curtain in the background, leads us to think it could be a post-presidential press conference from the 1950s or maybe early 1960s, which would explain why we can't find a transcript. If that's the case, President Truman gave many press conferences after he left office, and we don't necessarily have transcripts for them all, nor are they keyword searchable. We recommend you contact the History Channel or whoever produced the original documentary that features this clip to find out their source of the footage.

History Hub Administrator · Answer

On a related note, these other threads on UFOs and flying saucers may also be of interest:

And other related resources on the Archives.gov website:

Where is Harry Truman's statement on flying saucers?

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