Ronald Reagan served as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He won two presidential elections and left office after two terms.
Reagan publicly discussed a hypothetical extraterrestrial threat uniting humanity in speeches and raised the idea privately with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. He had reported a UAP sighting while governor in 1974.
- Governor of California, 1967–1975.
- President of the United States, 1981–1989.
- Reported UAP sighting from aircraft near Bakersfield, California, in 1974.
- Raised alien threat hypothetical with Gorbachev at 1985 Geneva summit.
- Mentioned alien threat uniting nations in UN speech, September 21, 1987.
- United StatesBorn and served as president
- CaliforniaGovernor 1967–1975
- President of the United States40th president, 1981–1989
- Republican PartyMember and two-term president
- Screen Actors GuildPresident 1947–1952 and 1959–1960
- U.S. Army Air ForcesServed during World War II
Background
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois. He attended Eureka College in Illinois, where he studied economics and sociology and played football. After college he worked as a radio sports announcer in Iowa before moving to Hollywood.
Reagan appeared in more than 50 films between 1937 and 1964, including roles in Knute Rockne, All American and Kings Row. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and again from 1959 to 1960. During World War II he narrated training films while in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
Reagan switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party in the early 1960s. He delivered a televised speech supporting Barry Goldwater in 1964 that raised his national profile. In 1966 he won the governorship of California and took office in January 1967.
As governor, Reagan managed the state during campus protests and budget challenges. In May 1974, while flying as governor in a Cessna Citation near Bakersfield, California, he and pilot Bill Paynter observed a bright white light that paced the plane then accelerated rapidly upward. Paynter later confirmed the account.
Reagan left the governorship in 1975. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, losing to incumbent Gerald Ford. He won the nomination and the presidency in 1980, defeating Jimmy Carter, and was inaugurated January 20, 1981.
During his presidency Reagan pursued tax cuts, increased defense spending, and arms control talks with the Soviet Union. He met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev five times. At the November 1985 Geneva summit, during a private walk, Reagan asked Gorbachev what the two countries would do if threatened by beings from another planet; both agreed they would set aside differences.
Reagan repeated the hypothetical scenario in a December 1985 speech to students at Fallston High School in Maryland, describing the Geneva conversation. He included a similar passage in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 1987, noting that an alien threat would make differences vanish.
Reagan gave a third version of the remarks at a National Security Forum in Chicago on May 4, 1988. Gorbachev later confirmed the 1985 exchange in interviews. Reagan left office in January 1989 and returned to private life in California.
Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994 and withdrew from public appearances. He died on June 5, 2004, at his home in Los Angeles. His presidential library in Simi Valley, California, opened in 1991 and houses his papers and exhibits on his administration.
Legacy
Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004, at age 93. His legacy centers on his role in Cold War diplomacy, economic policies, and the two-term presidency that ended the Soviet Union during his successor's term.
The 1985 Gorbachev exchange and 1987 UN speech remain the main public records of his comments on a hypothetical extraterrestrial threat. No verified evidence exists of any ET pact or classified UFO disclosures by Reagan.
Last updated 25 October 2026