UFO Politics at the White House: Citizens Rally
'round Jimmy Carter's Promise
by Larry W.Bryant (Invisible College Press, 2001)
This good value for money softback book ($14.95/300+ pages) is reasonably described on the cover as follows:
'..Produced by a pioneer of the politics of UFOlogy, UFO Politics at the White House brings together a few hundred letters sent to the former president upon his taking office. These letters, postcards, and telegrams center on Carter's election campaign promise to look into (and reveal) the official evidence for UFO reality and to work toward ending agencies' coverup of the UFO experience. Researcher Larry W.Bryant's selection of the letters for this volume includes a sharp running commentary on their import and aftermath.'
I think that most will find this book accessible/easy to read. The letters (etc.) sent to President Carter are from people in different social situations - including children, teenagers, Christians, members of UFO groups - and vary from short basic requests for UFO information to be publically released and/or sent to them, through to long expositions on experiences and problems of human-alien contact.
A letter, dated July 1, 1977, written/sent by Richard A.Sigismund, a psychologist & social scientist, takes up 21 pages, and is, in my view, the piece de resistance of the whole book: I consider it to be one of the finest examples of UFO-related literature I've ever read, and I especially recommend it to you.
Among the other letters, some (a small minority) are unexceptional, but their inclusion can be justified in order to ensure that the total selection is more nearly representative than it would be had these letters been excluded. Many of the letters, including those from children, seem naive with regard to the potential good will of the man they're writing to towards them and their enquiries. In the unlikely event that a copy of this book reaches Jimmy Carter, and he reads it, it will - it seems highly likely - be the first first time he will read any of these letters sent by "his citizens" whom he was supposed to be "serving" back in 1977.
This book deserves to be (and could be) read by anyone, not just those currently with an interest in UFOs or aliens. Well done Larry Bryant!
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