UFO conspiracy theorists claimed that President Eisenhower held a meeting with aliens in 1954. Pic credit: via History/YouTube
Dwight Eisenhower was the first US president to meet with aliens in the flesh, UFO conspiracy theorists claim.
Eisenhower was visiting Palm Springs, California, in February 1954 as part of his winter holiday itinerary when he disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly from public view.
The sudden official secrecy about his whereabouts overnight on February 20 left the media and the public puzzled.
However, legend that subsequently developed around the incident claimed the president took a detour to attend a meeting with aliens at a secret location.
Where was Eisenhower on the night of February 20, 1954?
Eisenhower allegedly went missing for several hours on the night of February 20-21, 1954.
The inexplicable official secrecy about his whereabouts sparked media speculation. According to a recent episode of The UnXplained on History Channel, top media outlets prompted by the Associated Press (AP) reported he died suddenly in the night (see video below).
The AP retracted the report shortly afterward, and other news sources followed suit.
However, rumors about his demise continued gaining traction until after he appeared in public for Sunday morning service at Palm Springs Community Church.
So, where did Eisenhower go overnight?
Even after the president reappeared, people continued speculating about where he went overnight on February 20-21. The inexplicable official silence only increased the wild speculation
One rumor that gained traction quickly claimed the president sneaked out at night to meet extraterrestrials.
Officials made a belated attempt to kill the rumors with the story that Eisenhower underwent an emergency dental procedure to fix a damaged tooth cap. People who first dismissed the ET story as a joke began taking it seriously after multiple UFO conspiracy theory sources began sharing it.
The British UFO expert Nick Pope told The UnXplained that conspiracy theorists claimed that intelligence agents spirited Einsenhower in the middle of the night to the Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Aliens wanted the US to give up nuclear weapons
According to Pope, sources claimed that the aliens wanted the US to give up their nuclear arsenal in exchange for advanced technology that would bring about a revolutionary improvement in human welfare.
Eisenhower refused the offer because he couldn’t get any assurances that the Russians would also give up their arsenal.
However, Pope’s story is not the only version of what transpired between the US president and the alleged extraterrestrials. UFO conspiracists share multiple versions of the alleged negotiations between top US officials and visiting ETs.
A widely circulated version claimed that the February 20-21 meeting was only the first of a series that ended in a treaty between the government and an alien species known as the Grays.
Eisenhower: First and Second alien contacts
The alleged meeting between Eisenhower and ETs on February 20-21, 1954, is known in UFO lore as the First Contact.
According to a popular version of the controversial story, the First Contact involved a less-known alien species called the Nordic or Pleiadian aliens.
Eisenhower allegedly met them in the company of his economic adviser Edwin Nourse and the Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal James Francis MacIntyre.
The Pleiadian aliens, allegedly a species native to the Pleiades star cluster, wanted the US government to renounce nuclearization in exchange for advanced technology. However, Eisenhower refused.
When the Gray alien rivals of the Pleiadians learned that the negotiations between the First Contact parties fell through, they made a competing offer.
The US government accepted it because they did not demand denuclearization. Eisenhower and his advisers also feared the Soviets could steal a match from them by accepting it.