The Senator and the UFO

I came across a link recently that made a bit of a to-do about Sen. John Kerry's office building in D.C.

The story is from Jeff Rense's web site and the post was made during the 2004 presidential campaign during which Kerry was of course the Democratic nominee.  Kerry's office is located in the Russell Senate Office Building, named after the late Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia.  

And Russell was apparently involved with UFOs.

The post had a link which went to a story that I have never before read about in my years of amateur Ufology.   Dr. Bruce Maccabee obtained documents via a Freedom Of Information Act request that stated that while on an official visit to the Soviet Union in 1955, Sen. Russell sighted two UFOs.  The craft, said to be saucer-shaped, were spotted as Russell and his staff traveled by rail in the Transcaucasus region of Russia.  Each of member the American delegation watched these UFOs take off in a straight, vertical line and then approach the train in a glide-like motion.  The objects were domed at the top with a white light atop the dome.  A white-pinkish light ringed the undersides of the discs and moved in a pinwheel motion in a clockwise direction.  No sound was heard from the UFOs as they passed over the train nor was any exhaust observed.  Sen. Russell and the accompanying staff members were quick to make a full report of the sighting to both USAF and the CIA, thus generating the documents obtained by Maccabee. 

 Curiously, the column "Aviation News" for the Los Angeles Examiner in 1957 printed a letter from Sen. Russell that came as a response to requests for further information regarding the sighting.  Russell replied that he "discussed this matter with the affected agencies of the government, and they are of the opinion that it is not wise to publicize this matter at this time."

Maccabee correctly points out that this sighting is a pretty big deal.  Here we have the then Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee having a significant and documented UFO sighting.   Because of this and the fact that John Kerry inhabits an office named after the Senator, the author of the Rense.com post contacted the Kerry camp in 2004, urging that Kerry make UFO disclosure a priority.  Shockingly enough, the Kerry reps were silent on the matter.  Maybe it was because the whole "name of your office building" connection is really rather weak?  Still, I can't blame the man for trying.

Here is the full rundown on the sighting as posted on The National UFO Reporting Center's web page.

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