33 



branch of the Armed Forces and a civilian chairman. 26 Vannevar 

 Bush was made the Board's first chairman, and he reported direct- 

 ly to both Secretaries. The purpose of the Board was to establish a 

 military research and development program, one which coordinat- 

 ed such activities in the interest of both departments. Moreover, it 

 sought to continue the military's close relationship with civilian 

 scientists and universities. 27 



The Navy in particular was anxious to reorganize its scientific 

 research and development efforts after the war and to establish its 

 ties with the nation's research universities. In so doing, it estab- 

 lished the temporary Office of Research and Inventions in May 

 1945. The Navy gained Congressional approval for a permanent re- 

 search operation in August 1946 with the creation by statute of the 

 Office of Naval Research (ONR). 28 A regular Navy officer was 

 made director of ONR, while a civilian chief scientist served as 

 deputy director and administered the various programs. A Naval 

 Research Advisory Committee was also established in 1946 and, 

 along with numerous other special committees and panels, it 

 brought eminent civilian scientists to the service of the Navy as ad- 

 visors on projects and screeners of research proposals — thus provid- 

 ing an early and successful peer review system. 



Although ONR's main purpose was to support scientific research 

 related to the Navy's defense mission, it was also charged with 

 sponsoring and promoting a broad array of basic research. Indeed, 

 many of its early research projects had little apparent bearing on 

 defense issues. The ONR was quick to establish good relations with 

 the nation's universities, and the scientific community came to 

 view its program as a great success. Its research support was car- 

 ried out largely through contracts with universities — a continu- 

 ation of the principal method used by the OSRD — and its contracts 

 were awarded on the basis of scientific merit. Its support of re- 

 search was both generous and relatively free of administrative or 

 programmatic restrictions, thus helping to ensure academic free- 

 dom. 29 



The ONR played a major role in the support of basic research in 

 the United States, especially during the years before the formal es- 

 tablishment of the NSF. Moreover, the ONR was so highly regard- 

 ed that many of its management practices and policies later served 

 as a model for the National Science Foundation. It also served as a 

 training ground for many of NSF's top administrators. For exam- 

 ple, ONR's first chief scientist, Alan T. Waterman, became the first 

 director of NSF. 



26 Generals Carl Spaatz and J.L. Devers represented the Army, while the Navy was represent- 

 ed by Admiral D.C. Ramsey and Assistant Secretary of the Navy W. John Kenney. 



27 See Daniel J. Kevles, "Scientists, the Military, and the Control of Postwar Defense Re- 

 search: The Case of the Research Board for National Security, 1944-46," Technology and Cul- 

 ture, 16 (January 1975), 20-47. 



28 Public Law No. 588. For general commentary, see Arthur D. Little, Inc., Basic Research in 

 the Navy: A Report to the Naval Research Advisory Committee, 2 volumes (Cambridge, Mass.: 

 n.p., 1959); F. Joachim Weyl (ed.), Research in the Service of National Purpose: Proceedings of the 

 Office of Naval Research Vicennial Convocation (Washington: GPO, 1966); and National Acade- 

 my of Sciences, Federal Support of Basic Research, pp. 36-39. 



29 For an excellent overview of the Navy's entire research program after the war, see David 

 K. Allison, "U.S. Navy Research and Development since World War II," in Merritt Roe Smith 

 (ed.), Military Enterprise and Technological Change: Perspectives on the American Experience 

 (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1985), pp. 289-328. 



