ir. Emergence of Sciexc e and Te(hnolo(;v as Major Factors 



IN Diplomacy 



!ii tlio CJiiiv yr>;ii-^ of llio Kei)ii])lir, scionco and tcclinolojry were 

 (juiic fio>ol\- intoiTolaletl with Ajncrican diplomacy. RoproMMitiiiii; 

 I he icvcltiiis: colonic^ in Paris, B(Mijainiii Franklin as bolii scientist 

 and !('( liiiolooist won rosjKvl on this account. Wlicn tho first ])atent 

 h!W wa-^ a(iopted in 1790, its designated achninistrator was thi' iir>t 

 Secret ai-y ol" State, Tl)onias Jefferson, himself a technologisr of note. 

 Siinihirlv, tlie U.S. Mint (who>e first director was the (Hstinguished 

 American astrononier. David Rittenhonse), and the first efforts to 

 estabhsh a bureau of weight-, and measures, were associated with tlie 

 Department of State. 



It was an intei-e-ting feature of the eariy 19th century lliat wars 

 did nut foreclos(! international sr-ienfiflc a(;tivit\-. Frankhn wrote? a 

 ciicuhir letter to all navid commandeis in 1779 lecommeiuHng that 

 they give safe passage to "'tliat ipo^t celel)raled Navigator and 

 Discoverer Captain Cook." Biiti>h scientist-^ lecimcd in Paris (huing 

 the war tliat foHowed the I'rencii Kevohilion. Tlu'ougliout the Wav 

 of 1812, Ferdinand Rudolph Ifas-^ler ]-einaine<i in J-,on(h)n to ari'ango 

 for the procurement of jjrerision instruments for the surve\ of tlic 

 U.S. coa>{. 



Jfowevor, after tlie pre-idency of John Quincy Adams, interactions 

 of (li))lomat^ — and Government officials generally — with s<;ienee and 

 lechnoiogy appear to have diminished. Jn the main, the modern 

 concei-n of the Department of State with science and technology 

 dates from the close of World War J I. It wa^, from lieic in 194G that 

 the Ache^on-T^ilienthal Rejjort ** was drafted, proposing a diplomatic 

 initiative to bring tlic newly developed technology of atomic energy 

 under international control. 



Atomic energy, though a major factor, was only one of a number of 

 de\('lopments that called attention to the postv»"ar imjiortance for 

 diplonuu y of science and technology. For example, consider the follow- 

 ing summarv: 



— A major element of the newly created United Nations 

 Organization was the creation of subordinate international 

 institutions with a large content of science and technology (the 

 World Health Organization; the United Nations Educational, 

 Scientific, and Cultural Organization; tlic Food and Agricultiu'c 

 Organization; and. others); 



— There was the recognition of the need to restore tlic global 

 network of scientific societies, disrupted ])y war, that offered 

 many positive values of international cominuni(;alion; 



*U.S. Congress, Committee on Foreign Affairs, The Biruch Plnti: U.S. Diplomacy Enters 

 The Nuclear Age, in the series. Science, Technology, and American Diplomac.v. prepared for 

 the Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scientific Developments, by Leneice N. 

 Wu, Analyst in International Relations, Foreign Affairs Division. Congressional Research 

 Service, Library of Congress, 1972. (See vol. I, pp. 53-122.) The Committee that prepared 

 the Acheson-Lilienthal Report was appointed by James F. Byrnes, Secretary of State ; it 

 was chaired by Dean Acheson, Assistant Secretary. 



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