550 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON S< II M I AND TECHNOLOGY 



Daddano moved with remarkable restraint and deliberation in 

 1970. After all, he knew it would be his last year in Congress. You 

 couldn't blame him for wanting to get the technology assessment bill 

 on the statute books as the capstone of his legislative career. But his 

 subcommittee since 1963 had been characterized by very methodical, 

 thorough, and extraordinarily detailed groundwork which moved 

 slowly toward a consensus. The scientific community and many opin- 

 ion-makers in various parts of the country were drawn into the act. 



LOS \NGELES-SAN FRANCISCO HEARINGS 



Hence in March of 1970, the Daddano Subcommittee had four 

 days of public hearings in Los Angeles and San Francisco, exploring 

 the relationship between technology assessment and certain environ- 

 mental problems impacting on California — such as air and water pol- 

 lution, aircraft noise, population growth, urban planning, and water 

 resources management. In May, Symington on behalf of the subcom- 

 mittee presided over two days of hearings in Webster Groves, Mo. 



Bell presided over the hearings in Los Angeles, while Brown 

 chaired the hearings in San Francisco. The California hearings were 

 held because the State with its booming population and environmental 

 problems, plus a reservoir of scientific and technological talent, rep- 

 resented in microcosm why technology assessment was needed and 

 might have prevented some of California's emerging problems. The 

 witnesses were drawn from a wide cross section of scientists, engineers, 

 economists, environmentalists, and average citizens upset about air- 

 craft noise and pollution. 



Daddario blew his cool at one witness, Dr. John Rodman, a pro- 

 fessor of political science at Pitzer College. Rodman attempted to 

 depict why there were some "contemporary Luddites" who, like the 

 machine-breakers during the early stages of the industrial revolution, 

 were resisting some technological changes because they created more 

 problems than they solved. Rodman deplored "the increasing pollu- 

 tion of the planet Earth that has proceeded hand in hand with indus- 

 trialization, urbanization, and technological 'progress'," and the de- 

 cisions by Congress that "only through further scientific research, 

 through systems management, and through a more skilled manage- 

 ment of the environment can our problems be solved." Daddano 

 responded : 



I would not like to have the assumption he made that this subcommittee is not 

 interested in tins problem * * * I think you put everybody into one of two c atcgories, 

 either Jo nothing or to just have technology run rampant, and one of the pervading 

 feelings, I believe, of the committee is that we should not he mastered by our own 

 technolog) ' * I find it reall) is somewhai disturbing that in your document you 

 do come to the conclusion that we are tor technology no matter what 



