The Samford Press Conference
The transcript of the largest Pentagon press conference since the Second World War, called to address the radar-visual sightings over Washington, D.C. that month.
Over two weekends in July 1952, radar operators at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked unidentified returns over the capital, and airline and military pilots reported visual sightings. The episode dominated the front pages and reached the President.
On 29 July 1952, Major General John A. Samford, the Air Force's Director of Intelligence, held a press conference at the Pentagon to address it. He attributed the radar returns to temperature inversions, a position experienced radar operators disputed at the time. This is the transcript of that briefing.
Source: US Air Force, declassified. Public domain (US Government work).
