23 



frontier of science remains. It is in keeping with the Amer- 

 ican tradition — one which has made the United States 

 great — that new frontiers shall be made accessible for de- 

 velopment by all American citizens. ' 6 



If the United States was to be prepared for any future war, Bush 

 argued, then science must play a crucial role within such prepara- 

 tion. This was especially true because modern warfare was becom- 

 ing increasingly science-based. Bush also tied scientific research to 

 the nation's quest for full employment — an issue that concerned 

 many of the President's domestic policy planners. 



Bush absorbed into his report a concept widely held as a truism 

 by physical scientists: that basic scientific research provides the un- 

 derpinning for all major technological advances. According to 

 Bush: 



Basic research leads to new knowledge. It provides scien- 

 tific capital. It creates the fund from which the practical 

 applications of knowledge must be drawn. New products 

 and new processes do not appear full-grown. They are 

 founded on new principles and new conceptions, which in 

 turn are painstakingly developed by research in the purest 

 realms of science. 1 7 



Many Government planners feared that the close of World War II 

 might bring about vast economic dislocations, perhaps to the extent 

 of precipitating another depression. Bush played to this concern by 

 arguing that Government support of basic research would help the 

 nation avoid such problems; it would create new, science-based in- 

 dustries and, along with this, new jobs. Bush and other proponents 

 of Federally-supported research consistently emphasized the great 

 benefits to the peacetime economy to be derived from such a policy. 



In addition, Bush stressed the need for "scientific capital," and 

 the advisability of not looking to Europe for that capital as the 

 United States had been required to do before the war. In order to 

 replenish the deficit of scientists and engineers caused by the dis- 

 ruption of World War II and to ensure the continued training of 

 adequate numbers of scientists and engineers, Bush recommended 

 that the Federal Government establish a system of scholarships 

 and fellowships at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. 



In providing the rationale for the public financing of science, 

 Bush argued that the Government should support science financial- 

 ly, but that the scientists should be allowed to maintain control 

 over the content of the research. It was a question of funding 

 versus control. To the extent that Bush was in disagreement with 

 the proposals put forth by Senator Kilgore, he used this report to 

 set forth his own ideas. 18 



16 Ibid., p. 11. 



17 Bush, Science — The Endless Frontier, p. 19. For a discussion of the arguments linking sci- 

 ence to technological progress, see E. Layton, "Conditions of Technological Development," in Ina 

 Spiegel-Rosing and Derek de Solla Price (eds.), Science, Technology and Society: A Cross-Discipli- 

 nary Perspective (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1977), pp. 197-222; and John P. McKelvey, 

 "Science and Technology: The Driven and the Driver," Technology Review, 88 (January 1985), 

 38-47. 



18 See Office of Technology Assessment, The Regulatory Environment for Science (Washington, 

 DC: GPO, 1985), Chapter 2. 



