12 



1920s. The Navy, in particular, was committed to the support of 

 science, and in 1923 it created the Naval Research Laboratory from 

 the roots of the Naval Consulting Board established in 1916. Work 

 at the Naval Research Laboratory was highly innovative, much of 

 it centering on basic research conducted by civilian scientists. 24 

 The in-house laboratories of the National Advisory Committee for 

 Aeronautics were also able to maintain distinguished research pro- 

 grams during the 1920s, led largely by their civilian scientists and 

 administrators. 2 5 



Science Policy During the 1930's 



The Great Depression had a profound effect on the support of sci- 

 ence in the United States. Government laboratories suffered severe 

 budget cuts during the early years of the Depression, although 

 their funding was restored in the mid- to late-1930s as increased 

 Government spending was used in an attempt to revive the econo- 

 my. 26 More seriously disrupted was the support given to science by 

 industry, universities, and private foundations. Even though most 

 institutions funding research retained their firm belief in the im- 

 portance of science, the Depression fed a growing current of criti- 

 cism that blamed science and technology for much of the nation's 

 economic problems. 27 



SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD 



As part of his response to the problems of the Great Depression, 

 President Roosevelt created the Science Advisory Board by execu- 

 tive order on 31 July 1933. 28 The Board was to provide the Roose- 

 velt Administration with specific science policy recommendations 

 and to serve as the Government's central scientific organization. It 

 was an experiment initially scheduled to last for two years. The 

 Board received no Federal funding, working instead under the 

 aegis of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Re- 

 search Council. It consisted of nine members appointed by the 

 President, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology president 

 Karl T. Compton designated as chairman. 29 The Board gained 



24 See David Kite Allison, New Eye for the Navy: The Origin of Radar at the Naval Research 

 Laboratory (Washington: GPO, 1981). 



25 See Roland, Model Research. 



26 See Dupree, Science in the Federal Government, pp. 344-368; Carroll W. Pursell, Jr., "The 

 Administration of Science in the Department of Agriculture, 1933-1940," Agricultural History, 

 42 (1968), 231-240; and Carroll W. Pursell, Jr., " The Farm Chemurgic Council and the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, 1935-1939," Isis, 60 (Fall 1969), 307-317. 



27 See, for example, Carroll Pursell, " 'A Savage Struck by Lightning': The Idea of a Research 

 Moratorium, 1927-37," Lex et Scientia, 10 (October-December 1974), 146-161. 



28 Executive Order No. 6238, 31 July 1933. This was supplemented by Executive Order No. 

 6725, 28 May 1934. For the history of the Science Advisory Board, see Lewis E. Auerbach, "Sci- 

 entists in the New Deal: A Pre- War Episode in the Relations between Science and Government 

 in the United States," Minerva, 3 (Summer 1965), 457-482; Carroll W. Pursell, Jr., "The Anato- 

 my of a Failure: The Science Advisory Board, 1933-1935," Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, 109 (December 1965), 342-351; and Kevles, The Physicists, pp. 252-258. Also 

 useful for its contemporary view of the Board and of the overall Government activity in the 

 area of scientific research is Karl T. Compton, "The Government's Responsibilities in Science," 

 Science, 81 (April 12, 1935), 347-355. 



29 The other charter members of the Board included W. W. Campbell, Isaiah Bowman, Gano 

 Dunn, Frank B. Jewett, Charles F. Kettering, C. K. Leith, John C. Merriam, and Robert A. Mil- 

 likan. 



