As the Reagan presidency unfolded, there was an increase in the number and in the bizarre tone of alien comments in speeches given by President Reagan. Most of these comments dealt with a hypothetical invasion of aliens that would unite the world into one race of people. Reagan referred this hypothetical invasion as "my fantasy."
The "alien invasion" remarks made by Reagan have since became famous. They have been quoted by many writers, and were even included in a briefing that was given to President Clinton in 1995. The first series of alien comments made by President Reagan came during the November 1985 Geneva Summit between Ronald Reagan and U.S.S.R. General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. During a series of impromptu toasts on November 19, President Reagan began his toast by discussing an invasion of aliens approaching on Halley’s Comet. A Memorandum of Conversation from the United States Department of State recorded Reagan’s comment.
Reagan said that while the General Secretary was speaking, he had been thinking of various problems being discussed at the talks. He said that previous to the General Secretary’s remarks, he had been telling Foreign Minister Shevardnadze (who was sitting to the President’s right) that if the people of the world were to find out that there was some alien life form that was going to attack the Earth approaching on Halley’s Comet, then that knowledge would unite all the peoples of the world.
Further, the President observed that General Secretary Gorbachev had cited a Biblical quotation,and the President is also alluding to the Bible, pointed out that Acts 16 refers to the fact that "we are all of one blood regardless of where we live on the Earth," and we should never forget that.
In reviewing the remark made during the Geneva toast, it is important to keep in mind that President Reagan was a very religious man who believed that aliens were visiting the Earth. He not only believed that aliens might be invading the Earth, but that the Bible supported this world view. To the chagrin of his White House handlers, Reagan also spoke often of Armageddon. He believed that the signs showed it was near. Therefore, aliens, Armageddon, and a single Earth race facing the invasion, were all part of a divine plan in Ronald Reagan’s mind.
The speech writer’s files at the Reagan library show no mention of this toast. It is therefore safe to assume that this "alien invasion" remark in the toast was an ad-lib comment by the President. The same would hold true for the "alien invasion" remark made to Shevardnadze. They were not, as some have espoused, carefully drafted attempt by the White House or some MJ-12 type group to lead or mislead the public.
There was a third mention of the alien invasion hypothesis made at the Geneva Summit. It was made by Reagan to Gorbachev during the five hours of personal conversations that the two leaders conducted while in Geneva. The Memorandums of Conversation from the Summit do not mention the remark, but it is evident from the number of pages in the NSC file that not everything in the five hours of conversations was recorded. The mention of the "alien invasion" remark to Gorbachev was made public by Reagan himself in a speech that President Reagan made shortly after arriving back in the U.S. from the summit.
On December 4, 1985, Ronald Reagan made a speech at Fallston High School, Harford County, Maryland. The school was located in a strong Republican riding which voted four to one for the President. The school had the highest attendance rate (96.2%0, lowest retention rate (loses the fewest number of students per year), and the lowest drop out rate (less than 1%) in the country. The school had 1,470 students and 100 full-time staff.
During the speech President Reagan reflected on his meeting with Gorbachev in Geneva two weeks before. He spent much of the speech talking about the exchange of scholars, scientists, and government officials between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. that he and Gorbachev had discussed. These exchanges would allow the citizens of the two countries to get to know each other without the government getting in the way. This would allow the people of the world to know we are all part of one world. At the very end of the speech, Reagan stated that during five hours of private conversations with Gorbachev in Geneva, he had brought up the alien scenario:
"I couldn’t help but - when you stop to think that we’re all God’s children, wherever we live in the world, I couldn’t help but say to him (Gorbachev) just how easy his task and mine might be if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species from another planet outside in the universe. We’d forget all the little local differences that we have between our countries and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this Earth together. Well I guess we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us, but I think that between us we can bring about that realization."
A review of the speech writer files from the Fallston speech show that the "alien invasion" reference was not in the drafts of the speech nor in the speech copy. Reagan had simply added his recollection of his "alien invasion" comment to Gorbachev while he was speaking.
Following the speech there was a question and answer session in one of the school’s classrooms. After the "alien invasion" remark such an event was probably a nightmare for the Reagan’s handlers. The problem with a question and answer is, it would allow for some student doing a UFO project for a science fair to start a chain of alien questions for his UFO science project which could really cause trouble.
High school audiences were the group that those around Reagan feared the most. In fact, just prior to the "alien invasion" speech at Fallston High School Mike Deaver had vetoed a Q and A with another high school "on the theory that Reagan would be ‘too loose’ and speak too freely." Former White House aide Judi Buckelew summed up the White House fear of high school students:
The staff was always trying to keep him away from these high school groups that would come in to have their pictures taken, because he would stand around and answer all their questions, saying all kinds of things. The staff would literally tug him away from these kids.
The fears of the Reagan handlers about the Fallston question and answer session were well founded. President Reagan was asked a question was asked how the President felt about SDI and the nuclear arms race, and how they affect the billions of people in the world. Reagan took the opportunity to talk about President Lincoln’s ghost.
I have come to understand very much why Abraham Lincoln once said that he had been driven to his knees many times because he had no other place to go...As I say, I’ve come to understand very much what Mr. Lincoln meant. He’s supposed to be around the White House, you know, now and then.
The March 4, 1985 alien comments to Fallston High School did not make big headlines but they did produce a reply from Gorbachev. Whether inspired through his conversations with President Reagan, or through information provided by his own intelligence people, Gorbachev appeared to have his own interest in UFOs. On February 16, 1987, in an important speech, at a conference at Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow on the "Survival of Humanity," Gorbachev appeared to respond to President Reagan:
"At our meeting in Geneva, the U.S. President said that if the earth faced an invasion by extraterrestrials, the United states and the Soviet Union would join forces to repel such an invasion. I shall not dispute the hypothesis, although I think it’s early yet to worry about such an intrusion. It is much more important to think about the problems that have entered in our common home."
In May 1990, after Reagan had left office, and shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union Gorbachev made a second more direct statement about UFOs."The phenomenon of UFOs does exist," he stated, "and it must be treated seriously.