47 



plained that the Federal Government was paying for about half of 

 all the nation's research and development, and that it did so 

 through the diversified programs of the various agencies: most no- 

 tably the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and 

 Space Administration, the Department of Health, Education, and 

 Welfare, the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Science 

 Foundation, and the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and 

 Interior. Despite PSAC's advisory capacities within the White 

 House, the part-time status of its members and its lack of budget- 

 ary authority prevented it from effectively coordinating the plan- 

 ning and management of scientific research and development as it 

 took place within these various agencies. Recognizing this, PSAC 

 called for the creation of an interagency council as a partial solu- 

 tion to this problem. In the words of the Committee: 



Each agency and department continues to formulate its 

 own policies in science and technology with insufficient 

 reference to the policies of others. Without in any way en- 

 croaching upon the freedom and authority of each depart- 

 ment or agency to manage its own programs, there is still 

 an opportunity to pull together the policies developed in 

 different agencies of the Government with a view to inte- 

 grating and reconciling them as a whole. 1 7 



President Eisenhower agreed with the recommendations of his 

 Science Advisory Committee, and established the Federal Council 

 for Science and Technology on 13 March 1959. 18 The FCST re- 

 placed the ineffectual Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific 

 Research and Development. Following PSAC's advice, membership 

 of the Council was made up of the heads of all Federal agencies 

 responsible for scientific research and development. Their role was 

 to consider research-related problems that cut across the various 

 missions of their agencies and to make recommendations to the 

 President and Congress. 19 



Science Policy Under President Kennedy 



The Executive Branch of the government made great strides 

 toward strengthing its ability to formulate science policy in the 

 years immediately after Sputnik, and the advances started by 

 President Eisenhower were continued during the Kennedy Admin- 

 istration. 20 The most significant change affecting science policy 

 was the establishment of the Office of Science and Technology 

 (OST) within the Executive Office of the President. Created on 8 

 June 1962, OST was part of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1962. 

 Like the Federal Council for Science and Technology, OST was in- 

 tended to coordinate the Federal science policy — a role NSF had 

 failed to achieve, and a role Congress sought to fulfill through its 



17 President's Science Advisory Committee, Strengthening American Science, p. 10. 



18 Executive Order No. 10807, 13 March 1959. 



19 For the changing memberships of the FCST and its various subcommittees, as well as sum- 

 maries of its numerous activities, see the Annual Reports of the FCST (which were published by 

 the President's Office of Science and Technology) for the years 1962-1969. 



20 Kennedy's Special Assistant for Science and Technology, Jerome B. Wiesner, recalled the 

 President's interests and activities in science policy in Where Science and Politics Meet (New 

 York: McGraw-Hill, 1965), pp. 3-12. 



