of the direct results of this letter was the estab- 

 lishment of the National Science Foundation 



(NSF). 



Government Surveys 



The Allison Commission Survey, 1884-1886. The 



purpose of the Allison Commission was "to con- 

 sider the present organization of the Signal Serv- 

 ice, Geological Survey, Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 vey and the Hydrographic Office."** The Commis- 

 sion, after rejecting an NAS recommendation to 

 propose a Department of Science, made a less 

 direct attempt to centralize science activity by 

 suggesting that four bureaus be integrated into an 

 existing agency. This recommendation met with 

 intense controversy, and Congress took no imme- 

 diate action. 



The Committee on Organization of Government 

 and Scientific Work Survey, 1903. Seventeen years 

 after the Allison Commission recommended con- 

 solidation of scientific bureaus, the Committee on 

 Organization concluded that, although duplication 

 was not a problem, some consolidation of bureaus 

 was probably desirable. It also recommended that 

 research should be organized on the basis of perti- 

 nent problems, not according to the separate dis- 

 ciplines.*^ 



The National Resources Committee Survey, 1938. 

 This Committee probed the legal, social, and eco- 

 nomic aspects of Government science and consid- 

 ered Government research in relation to research 

 in universities and industry. '^ It was formed as 

 part of a Government effort to provide depression 

 relief for science in the civilian sector, but the 

 Committee had no power and, at the onset of 

 World War II, was superseded by the OSRD. 



The Vannevar Bush Report, 1944-45. Vannevar 

 Bush, with the help of qualified committees, pro- 

 duced a comprehensive report concerned with the 

 natural sciences, including biology and medicine. 

 The essence of his report is contained in the para- 

 graph headings of his summary: 



Scientific progress is essential. For the war 

 against disease. For our national security. For 

 the public welfare; We must renew our scientif- 

 ic talent. Including those in uniform; The lid 

 must be lifted; A program for action." 



Most significantly. Bush recommended enlightened 

 Government support for scientific research and edu- 

 cation, military research under a civilian-controlled 



''Dupree, p. 215. 



''Ibid., pp. 29.5-2%. 



'"Research - A National Resource, op. cit.; Diipree, p. M). 



"Hush, v.. Science, the Endless Frontier: A Report to the 

 President on a Program for Postwar Scientific Research (GPO: 

 Washington, D. C, 1945), pp. 1-4. Hereinafter referred to as 

 Bush I 



organization, and the creation of a national research 

 foundation. I- 



The President's Scientific Research Board Sur- 

 vey, 1947. This extensive survey led to a five-vol- 

 ume publication known as the "Steelman Re- 

 port," which contained a national program, a 

 Federal program, and recommendations for the 

 administration of science, scientific manpower, 

 and medical research. The Board urged such mea- 

 sures as increased annual expenditures for re- 

 search and development, heavier emphasis on 

 basic research and medical research, increased 

 Government support of basic research in universi- 

 ties and nonprofit research institutions, establish- 

 ment of the NSF. and Federal assistance to un- 

 dergraduate and graduate students in the sciences 

 and to universities for laboratory facilities and 

 instruments.!^ 



The Post-Sputnik Era 



In October 1957, while the U. S. Navy was 

 having difficulties with its modest but well publi- 

 cized effort to put a small unmanned satellite into 

 orbit, the U.S.S.R. orbited a satellite first, follow- 

 ing it with a much larger one containing a live 

 dog. Sputniks I and II shattered American com- 

 placency even though our relatively small Explor- 

 er was successfully orbited in January 1958 and a 

 still smaller Vanguard in March 1958. The Nation- 

 al Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 

 was established with good funding and high priori- 

 ty in an effort to catch up and pass the U.S.S.R. 

 in space technology, and basic research profited 

 from increased public interest. Then the U.S.S.R. 

 orbited and recovered an astronaut before we did 

 and there was another surge of public support for 

 space science and for basic research. All federally 

 funded basic research obligations quadrupled 

 between 1958 and 1966. That this movement was 

 broadly based is illustrated by the fact that it took 

 only 2 years for the basic research obligations of 

 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare 

 (HEW) and of the NSF to double, with the Atom- 

 ic Energy Commission (AEC) achieving this the 

 following year and the Department of Agriculture 

 a year later. Total Federal outlays related to re- 

 search and development rose from 6 percent of all 

 Federal outlays in FY 1958 to 12.6 percent in FY 

 1965 (and back down to 6 percent in FY 1975). "4 



'-Bush I. pp. 26- .^4. 



"Steelman, John R. , Science and Public Policy: A Program for 

 the Nation (GPO: Washington, DC. 1947). 



'■'National Science Foundation, Federal Funds for Research. 

 Development, and Other Scientific ActivitiesiNSP: Washington, 

 D.O.Vol. XXI. NSF 72-.^17. Table C-IOO; Vol. XXV. NSF 77- 

 301 , p. 4. Hereinafter referred to as Federal Funds, with appropri- 

 ate volume and N.SF publication numbers. 



324 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 



