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In 1944, Kilgore drafted a new bill, renaming the federal science agency the National Science Foundation. Because Kilgore’semphasis had shifted entirely to postwar science-government relations, hearings on the bill were postponed until the end of the war in Europe.

Left to right: Ernest Lawrence, Karl Compton, Vannevar Bush, James B. Conant, Arthur Compton, and Alfred Loomis at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, 1940. Courtesy of the Lawrence Berkeley Library.

By that time, the Vannevar Bush-led scientific establishment was preparing a counterproposal, in the form of areport entitled Science—the Endless Frontier (often referred to as the “Bush report”). Officially transmitted to Truman on July 5, 1945, the report came in response to a November1944 Roosevelt letter to Bush, in which the President emphasized that “the research experience developed by the Office of Scientific Research andDevelopment and by the thousands of scientists in the universities and private industry, should be used in the days of peace ahead for the improvement of thenational health, the creation of new enterprises bringing new jobs, and the betterment of the national standard of living.” Bush, op. cit. , 3.

Roosevelt’s letter had raised four questions concerning the declassification of wartime research results; the organization ofa program for medicine and related science; government aid to research activities by public and private organizations; and a program for discoveringand developing scientific talent.

Although Science— the Endless Frontier included several recommendations intended to strengthen existing research capabilities in bureaus within the Departments ofAgriculture, Commerce, and the Interior, its centerpiece was the recommended creation of a National Research Foundation, which would be “a focal point withinthe Government for a concerted program of assisting scientific research conducted outside of Government.” Ibid., 31. In addition to awarding scholarships and fellowships, the foundation would furnish “the funds needed tosupport basic research in colleges and universities.” Additionally, it would “coordinate where possible research programs on matters of utmost importance tothe national welfare…formulate a national policy for the Government toward science…sponsor the interchange of scientific information among scientists andlaboratories both in this country and abroad…ensure that the incentives to research in industry and the universities are maintained.” Ibid.

An Act establishing the National Science Foundation was signed into law in May 1950. Although its approach to federalsupport for science was much closer to the Bush than to the Kilgore concept, the scope and authority of the National Science Foundation were considerablydiminished from what either Science—the Endless Frontier or the Kilgore legislation had envisioned. Indeed, the National Science Foundation that finally emerged in 1950 was a bit player amongother more established, more powerful agencies. In particular, Bush’s hope that defense research would be included in the National Science Foundation’s charterwas not realized. While medical research was not explicitly excluded, the legislative history of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 implied thatCongress preferred all such research to be conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Source:  OpenStax, A history of federal science policy from the new deal to the present. OpenStax CNX. Jun 26, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11210/1.2
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