'Let's Face Facts About Flying Saucers'

That glib exhortation was the title of an alleged exposé on unidentified flying objects by Gabriel Green, who was born on this day in 1924 in my home town of Whittier, California.

A lean, articulate and intensely serious bachelor, formerly a photographer with the Los Angeles school system, Gabriel Green received some crackpot attention for his accounts of being greeted by 5'-tall humanoids from the planet Korender during the 1950s and 60s in publications such as Let's Face Facts About Flying Saucers (1967) and his own Flying Saucers International magazine.

Early on, he claimed he had seen over 75 flying saucers and had actually spoken with extraterrestrial beings. He stared down skeptics by pointing to history: "They didn't believe the world was round. They didn't believe we could crack the sound barrier, and we cracked it. The reporters wouldn't even believe the Wright brothers' early flights." He was also a self-styled economist, an exponent of "Universal Economics," a non-monetary system of economics allegedly used by people on other planets, and the "United World," a theocratic world government based on universal spiritual laws and principles. In later years, he referred to the mission of space aliens as one of raising human consciousness so that we can "recognize our own Godhood."

In 1959, Green organized a "peace convention" of the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America (AFSCA) at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, announcing in advance of the event that an actual flying saucer from another planet would come and hover over the convention. When asked by reporters if the failure of a flying saucer to come to the Statler Hotel should be interpreted as good evidence that flying saucers didn't exist, Green replied, "Well, it doesn't prove you don't exist if you don't show up for work in the morning, does it?"

In 1960, Green decided to take his notoriety to the next level. At a press conference at the Biltmore Hotel -- attired in a conservative suit and bow-tie, albeit wearing bright red socks -- Green launched a candidacy for U.S. president as the nominee of the Universal, or "Flying Saucer" Party. Claiming to have been chosen to run for president by "space people," Green said that his advisors were from the Alpha Centauri system, but that they looked like ordinary Americans. During the campaign, he boasted: "With the help of space people, I believe I can carry millions of votes and many areas. They will help me, not necessarily at the precinct level, but by providing me with information." Although some reports indicate he later withdrew from his candidacy to support the ulitmate winner, John F. Kennedy, Green did manage to pick up over 170,000 votes in the general election. (If he did support Kennedy, I suppose that might mean that his space advisors were fairly effective, especially in certain Chicago precincts.)

Green ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from California in 1962, campaigning against nuclear arms testing and placing third with 113,205 votes, but took a breather from politics (all the while continuing to publish his UFO magazines and building the membership of the AFSCA to 3,700 members) until 1972, when he managed to get himself on the Iowa ballot for U.S. president, again as the nominee of the Universal Party. That year, he received just 199 votes, all in Iowa.

After 1972, Green moved to the California desert and faded from the limelight, occasionally appearing at UFO conventions, and in Dan Curtis' documentary about the UFO sub-culture, In Advance of the Landing (1993) -- ever vigilant, watching the skies intently. He passed away on September 8, 2001 in Yucca Valley, California.

"They're watching us more carefully . . . Already they are becoming bolder, leaving imprints and other evidence of their landings on earth. When they are convinced that we can accept their reality they will formally make themselves known, and that will be fairly soon." -- Gabriel Green, on extraterrestrial beings, in 1966.