61 



change in the nation's science policy. The support of undirected re- 

 search by Federal mission-oriented agencies began to decrease, es- 

 pecially within the armed services. The decline of the military as 

 the Government's prime sponsor of basic research was accelerated 

 by the pressures of the Vietnam War and later, in 1969, by the 

 Mansfield Amendment. 13 



Criticisms of Science From the Anti-War Movement 



The Vietnam War had a profound impact on the Government-sci- 

 ence relationship. University scientists working on Department of 

 Defense research contracts found themselves under critical attack, 

 and universities in general were criticized for supporting the war 

 in Vietnam. Government-funded classified research was an impor- 

 tant target of this criticism, which came from both students and 

 faculty. Scientists and Engineers for Social and Political Action, 

 later changed to Science for the People, and the Union of Con- 

 cerned Scientists were two organizations that became deeply in- 

 volved in these issues. 



Prompted by the 1965 escalation of the Vietnam War, significant 

 numbers of scientists also became politicized during the late 1960s 

 and early 1970s. Many of them began speaking out against the 

 military applications of their research which they viewed as a 

 misuse of science and technology; other scientists simply spoke out 

 more broadly against government policies. Their protests took 

 place on college and university campuses across the country, as 

 well as in the nation's capital. 



Of the various protests by scientists against the Vietnam War 

 and their attempts to move classified research off campus, perhaps 

 the best known and most influential event was the research stop- 

 page organized by students and faculty at the Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology on 3 and 4 March 1969. 14 Known widely as 

 simply "March 4," these discussions and meetings were sponsored 

 by the Union of Concerned Scientists and groups at M.I.T., and 

 they received much publicity in the news media. It was a prime ex- 

 ample of scientists publicly questioning the nation's science and 

 technology policies as they related to the military support of classi- 

 fied research on college and university campuses, and their at- 

 tempt to find alternatives, including a greater emphasis on re- 

 search associated with civilian problems. As M.I.T. physicist Victor 

 Weisskopf asserted at the meetings, "We scientists must try to 

 make better use of science and to prevent its misuse". 15 In addi- 

 tion to helping raise the issue of military research nationally, 

 March 4 contributed to a far-reaching change at M.I.T. itself: the 

 decision in May 1970 to divest the Institute of the Charles Stark 

 Draper Laboratory, which was a major recipient of Department of 



13 See Harvey M. Sapolsky, "Science, Technology and Military Policy," in Ina Spiegel-Rosing 

 and Derek de Solla Price (eds.), Science, Technology and Society: A Cross- Disciplinary Perspective 

 (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1977), pp. 454-455. 



14 See Jonathan Allen (ed.) March 4- Scientists, Students, and Society (Cambridge: The MIT 

 Press, 1970); and Dorothy Nelkin, The University and Military Research: Moral Politics at M.I.T. 

 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972). 



15 V. F. Weisskopf, "Intellectuals in Government," in Allen, March 4, P- 27. 



