Former Arizona Governor Symington Publicly Confirms 1997 Phoenix Lights Sighting

On March 18, 2007, former Arizona Governor Fife Symington III publicly acknowledged that he had personally witnessed the Phoenix Lights on March 13, 1997, reversing a decade of official dismissal. The statement was a major US disclosure event because it came from a sitting-era governor who had originally staged a press conference mocking the sightings.

The Incident

During his time as governor, Symington observed a massive delta-shaped craft passing near Squaw Peak on the night of the Phoenix Lights sightings. At the time, to defuse public hysteria, he publicly dismissed the sightings — famously presenting an aide in an alien costume at a press conference. He kept his own firsthand observation private for a decade. A 2006 on-camera interview by documentary filmmaker James Fox, combined with witness testimony from Stacey Roads, is credited with convincing Symington to go public.

Disclosure

In March 2007, Symington issued a public statement confirming he had personally seen a large, unexplained craft and called for an official investigation into the Phoenix Lights event. He gave interviews to major US outlets, including CNN and The Washington Post, and contributed a chapter to Leslie Kean's 2010 book "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record". His admission was frequently cited in subsequent disclosure advocacy.

Significance

Symington's reversal is widely considered one of the most prominent elected-official disclosures in modern US UAP history. It influenced later state-level and federal statements, and it gave credibility to the broader group of former officials, pilots, and military personnel who spoke at the 2007 National Press Club event organised by Leslie Kean. Combined with James Fox's documentary work, the event helped shift public discourse toward treating pilot and executive witnesses as credible sources.