150 



HISTORY OI : THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



1966, Ch airman Miller reintroduced the legislation in 1967 and after 

 the Senate finally acted, the President signed the legislation July 11, 

 1968. 



FIRE RESEARCH AND SAFETY 



On March 6, 1967, Chairman Miller introduced H.R. 6637, a bill 

 to authorize the National Bureau of Standards $10 million for a fire 

 research and safety program. The Daddario subcommittee held hear- 

 ings on the bill during May and June of 1967. The subcommittee also 

 recommended a National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control 

 which had been suggested by the professional firefighting organiza- 

 tions. The bill cleared the legislative process and was signed by the 

 President on March 1, 1968. 



Action during 1972 on several innovative fire research proposals 

 will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter. 



APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS 



The speed of the work of the Daddario subcommittee and the 

 volume of excellent reports turned out by the committee and its close 

 allies like the National Academy of Sciences sometimes got them 

 far ahead of the scientific community. Witness the letter which came 

 in to Chairman Miller on September 23, 1969, from Dr. Harold Brown, 

 later Secretary of Defense, and at that time president of the California 

 Institute of Technology. 



Dr. Brown related that he had read the committee-sponsored 

 report of March 1965, on "Basic Research and National Goals." 



I read it at the time and considered it a most useful and provocative study. 

 Recently I had occasion to see it again, and learned that it is no longer in print. I 

 am writing now in the hope that you can look into the possibility of another edition. 



Dr. Brown, in his 1969 letter, noted that the "questions raised and 

 answers given in this report have become even more relevant and use- 

 ful since 1965" He added: 



Concerns about the intellectual contributions of basic science and about its me- 

 dium and long-term utility to the material advantage of the United States and of 

 mankind have grown since then. Indeed, we are experiencing an adverse tide of 

 popular and congressional opinion, for a number of reasons. It would help us to have 

 easily available in complete form once again the arguments advanced in the 1965 

 report; we could use them to educate more people about the specific reasons for gov- 

 ernmental support of science. 



Dr. Brown went on to describe the number of colleges and universities 

 using the 1965 report as textbooks in science and policy seminars. 



Early in 1966, Chairman Daddario negotiated a new contract with 

 the National Academy of Sciences for a follow-on report to deal with 



