Although most of the executive and 

 legislative initiatives toward more scientific 

 research during the 1930's — especially those 

 which contemplated new responsibilities or 

 mechanisms — failed to become either law or 

 policy, the needs of science, and especially of 

 basic research, were thoroughly discussed and 

 weighed. Gradually a trend toward greater 

 Federal support appeared, strengthened by the 

 needs of national defense. 



As the Journal of Applied Physics noted in 

 1939, pure research came from four sectors: 

 private laboratories supported by 

 philanthropic endowment, industrial research 

 laboratories, universities, and government 

 agencies. "Little need be said about those 

 laboratories included in the first category," it 

 declared. "Let us hope for more of them. 

 Industrial laboratories are, of course, operated 

 primarily for the profit of their parent com- 

 panies and gradually the companies are lear- 

 ning that it is for their own good to establish 

 pure research divisions in their laboratories. 

 Much can be done to encourage more research in 

 universities but the place above all others to 

 expect research in pure science is in the 

 governmental laboratories. How can society 

 stand by," it concluded rhetorically, "and watch 

 research on electrons, deuterons and neutrons 

 become so important to everyone without lifting 

 a single finger to see that its public servants 

 include at least a small amount in the Federal 

 and State budgets for research in pure 

 science?" 22 



Whether in the future the Government would 

 simply increase its support of basic research in 

 its own laboratories or do so through grants and 

 contracts to universities and industrial 

 laboratories, its role as a source of funds was 

 increasingly taken for granted. The tenor of the 

 times was accurately summarized by Karl T. 



Compton, speaking in 1938 at a birthday 

 celebration for a prominent private laboratory. 

 "If present economic and political tendencies 

 continue," he remarked, "I see only one ultimate 

 source of support — the government through 

 taxation for the general public benefit." 23 



In 1940, the year in which the United States 

 began to set up its wartime science establish- 

 ment, the Nation's research and development 

 budget stood at $345 million. Of this total, $234 

 million or 68 percent came from private in- 

 dustry, 19 percent from the Federal Govern- 

 ment, 9 percent from colleges and universities, 

 and 4 percent from other sources, including 

 private philanthropic endowments. Each of 

 these sectors of American science, having 

 developed separately and serving a somewhat 

 different clientele, expended its own money for 

 its own purposes. The Government was not yet 

 entirely convinced that science (especially 

 basic science) had a high claim upon the tax 

 dollar; industry feared governmental competi- 

 tion in technological innovation; universities 

 feared government domination; and many 

 scientists were still leery of bureaucratic 

 control from Washington. 



WORLD WAR II: 



De Facto FEDERALIZATION 



The coming of war to Europe changed all of 

 this. To an extent impossible in the previous 

 decade, opportunities were seized and fears 

 overcome. Under the spur of this new crisis, 

 science and the Federal Government came 

 together in a new and closer relationship. 

 During the war years funds for research and 

 development (exclusive of those for atomic 

 energy) averaged $600 million a year, 83 percent 

 of which was provided by the Federal 

 Government. A large part of these funds was 

 funneled through the Office of Scientific 

 Research and Development (OSRD). The men 



in the Department of Agriculture. 1933-1940," Agricultural 

 History. 42 (July. 1968), 231-240. 



- "Pure Physics Begets Applied Physics," Journal of 

 Applied Physics. 10 (January, 1939], 3. 



13 Remarks were quoted in the New York Times. October 8, 

 1938. 



RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES 



