LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



House of Representatives, 

 Committee on Science and Technology, 



Washington, DC, March 4, 1986. 

 To the Members of the Task Force on Science Policy: 



An important part of the Science Policy Study which our Task 

 Force is conducting in the 99th Congress involves a number of 

 background studies commissioned to assist us in our review. 



I am glad to submit the first in this series of background studies 

 which is entitled "A History of Science Policy in the United States, 

 1940-1985". This study provides a useful overview of how the rela- 

 tionship between the Federal Government and science has evolved 

 over the last 45 years. After a brief survey of the pre-1940 period, 

 the study covers the massive build-up of Federal science support 

 during World War II. It then provides a series of chapters that de- 

 scribe the many developments, incidents and personalities that 

 have shaped the Government-science interface with which we find 

 ourselves faced today. The study is followed by a more detailed 

 chronology of science policy developments going back to the Consti- 

 tutional Convention of 1787. 



To write this study of the history of American science policy, we 

 were fortunate to have serving with the Task Force staff the histo- 

 rian Dr. Jeffrey K. Stine. As a historian, Dr. Stine has specialized 

 in the history of science and government in this country, and he 

 came to the Committee as a Congressional fellow sponsored by the 

 American Historical Association. We are indebted to Dr. Stine and 

 the Association for making it possible to have this important study 

 written for our use. The chronology was compiled for the Task 

 Force by Mr. Michael E. Davey, an analyst and professional staff 

 member of the Science Policy Research Division of the Congression- 

 al Research Service in the Library of Congress. Mr. Davey and his 

 colleagues have provided a detailed list of the many important 

 dates and developments that over the last two centuries have con- 

 stituted the critical events in American science policy. 



I commend this study to the attention of every member of the 

 Science Policy Task Force, to the members of the Committee on 

 Science and Technology, and to the members of the House of Rep- 

 resentatives who have an interest in matters of science policy and 

 its role in helping to shape the nation's future. 



Manuel Lujan. Don Fuqua, 



Ranking Republican Member. Chairman. 



(in) 



