A couple months later, probably still inspired by the E.T. movie, President Reagan showed up in Roswell, New Mexico to give a speech for the re-election of Harrison (Jack) Schmitt. Schmitt was a Republican Senator from New Mexico who as an Apollo 17 astronaut was the last man to walk on the moon.
Schmitt, like Reagan was interested in the UFO phenomena. Like Reagan, Schmitt had publicly played both the investigator and the agnostic. On a positive note Schmitt declared, "If the government has any information on UFO's, it should be released to the public -- barring anything that might affect national security. We ought to be involved in a search to find out if there's any good evidence that UFOs really are spacecraft that are being piloted by extraterrestrial beings." Playing the conservative politician Schmitt stated, "The existence of intelligent life elsewhere in our universe is highly probable, given the huge number of sun-like stars that exist out there. That such life would visit our star and planet, however, is unlikely, but not impossible given the large number of choices it would have for such a visit. Further, the so-called UFOs have not done a very good job of communicating for life (that's) intelligent enough to travel between stars."
Schmitt’s actions spoke very strongly towards his interest in solving the UFO mystery. In 1979 during the peek wave of cattle mutilations Schmitt gathered together 200 policemen, cattlemen, investigators, FBI agents, and media men from 11 western states in Albuquerque for the only official investigation into the cattle mutilation phenomena. No solution to the problem was reached by the gathering, but only a few days later the justice Department offered money for an investigation.
Even more spectacular was Senator Schmitt’s involvement a year later in the case of Paul Bennewitz, an Albuquerque businessman who had contacted Kirkland Air Force base, USAF intelligence, and President Reagan about his claim that he was monitoring a base of aliens operating in the center of the Jicarilla Reservation in Northern New Mexico. On November 10 Bennewitz was invited to the Kirkland Air Force base to present his findings to a small group of officers and scientists. A week later, agent Richard Doty Bennewitz that the Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI) had decided against further consideration of the matter.
At this point Senator Schmitt involved himself in the case asking Doty asking what AFOSI was planning to do about Bennewitz's allegations. When informed that no investigation was planned, Schmitt spoke with Brig. Gen. William Brooksher of base security.
In this light, it came as no surprise that the re-election rally for Schmitt should be at the location of the most popular UFO story of the century, and that Reagan brought up the subject of extraterrestrials in his speech. Reagan began his speech
It feels good to be here in the land of enchantment and far away from a place of disenchantment on the banks of the Potomac. Jack (Schmitt), are you sure you want to go back there? [Laughter] Of course, having once been an astronaut, Jack Schmitt is probably the only one who feels at home there; because Washington is in orbit most of the time about one thing or another. [Laughter]
You know, when he was first elected he Senate, he probably thought that, like E.T., [A character in the movie ``E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.''] he had landed on another planet. He was one of the few among those alien big spenders, big taxers, who was working to bring economic order to our nation.
More important than the alien comments made by President Reagan, was the place that he made them - the Roswell Industrial Air Center - formally known as the Walker Air Force Base. It was at this base in 1947 where the wreckage and bodies of the Roswell flying saucer were rumored to have been taken from the crash outside of town.
Furthermore, Reagan made his speech in front of Hanger 84, which was the rumored hanger that was used to store UFO wreckage and/or bodies in July 1947. Like his famous speech at the Berlin wall where Reagan asked Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," the speech at the Roswell Hanger where the UFO mystery began was typical Reagan symbolism.
The Alien Invasion