MJ-12 Documents Released: Press Conference by Moore, Friedman, and Shandera
On June 11, 1987, William Moore, Stanton Friedman, and Jaime Shandera hold a press conference at the National Press Club to publicly release the MJ-12 documents. These purport to show that President Truman created a secret committee called Majestic-12 in September 1947 to manage the UFO crash retrieval situation. The documents had been received by Shandera on an undeveloped roll of 35mm film mailed anonymously in December 1984. Key supporting evidence includes the Cutler-Twining Memo dated July 14, 1954, which Moore and Shandera discovered at the National Archives in January 1987 — the only known government document referencing 'MJ-12.' Stanton Friedman also reveals that MJ-12 member Donald Menzel, a Harvard astronomer who had publicly debunked UFOs, had secretly led a double life as an intelligence cryptographer with Top Secret Ultra clearances for the NSA, CIA, and Navy.
Background
On June 11, 1987, William Moore, Stanton Friedman, and Jaime Shandera held a press conference at the National Press Club to publicly release the MJ-12 documents. These documents purported to show that President Truman created a secret committee called Majestic-12 in September 1947 to manage UFO crash retrievals and related matters.
The Incident
The three researchers chose the National Press Club as the venue to announce their findings to the media and public. Moore, Friedman, and Shandera presented what they claimed were authentic government documents revealing the existence of a top-secret committee designated as Majestic-12 or MJ-12.
According to the documents they released, President Harry Truman had established this committee in September 1947, shortly after the alleged Roswell incident. The papers suggested that MJ-12 was tasked with handling UFO crash retrievals and managing the government's response to the UFO phenomenon.
Investigation
The source text does not provide information about any official government response to the release of these documents or subsequent investigations into their authenticity.
Significance
The public release of the MJ-12 documents represented a significant moment in UFO disclosure efforts. The documents, if authentic, would have provided documentary evidence of high-level government involvement in UFO crash retrievals and cover-up activities.
The timing of the release, coming during a period of renewed public interest in UFOs and government secrecy, added to the documents' potential impact. The choice to hold the press conference at the prestigious National Press Club demonstrated the researchers' intention to present their findings as serious evidence deserving of mainstream media attention.
The MJ-12 documents would become one of the most controversial pieces of alleged UFO evidence, sparking ongoing debates about their authenticity and the extent of government knowledge regarding UFO phenomena.