INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFK COOPERATION, 1959-79 497 



COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH THE SOVIET UNION 1972 



The Symington subcommittee got off to a careful start, with 

 briefings by the State Department and a visit to the United Nations 

 to size up what was being done by the various U.N. -affiliated organi- 

 zations involved in science and technology matters. In mid-June, 

 Symington called public hearings on four cooperative agreements 

 which President Nixon and Kosygin had signed in Moscow, dealing 

 with space, medicine, science and technology, and the environment. 

 Mosher, as the ranking Republican on the full committee, and Frey, 

 as the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, strongly supported 

 the hearings and actively participated in the comments and question- 

 ing of witnesses. In 1972, the Subcommittee on International Co- 

 operation in Science and Space included the following members: 



Democrats Republicans 



James \Y. Symington, Missouri, Chairman Louis Frev, Jr., Florida 



Robert A. Roe, New Jersey Alphonzo Bell, California 



W illiam R. Cotter, Connecticut Larry Winn, Jr., Kansas 



Morgan F. Murphy, Illinois Robert Price, Texas 



Mendel J. Davis, South Carolina Barry M. Goldwater, Jr., California 



On the opening day of the hearings, Symington observed: 



Surely, the deeper significance of these agreements lies in the promise they hold 

 tor the reduction of tensions between the two signatories. It is difficult to shake 

 hands and fists at the same time. 



The President's Science Adviser, Dr. Edward E. David, Jr., praised 

 the initiative of the Symington subcommittee in holding the hearings: 



I would like to thank you and your committee for your interest in these four 

 agreements. I think in order for them to achieve their potential for this country, it 

 will take the support not only of the public but of the Congress. Your immediate 

 interest in this whole area, and our ability to put our views on the record at an early 

 stage, and to solicit your support and the support of the American people through 

 these hearings is most welcome from our viewpoint 



Dr. Philip Handler, President of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 traced the changing spirit of scientific relationships between the 

 United States and U.S.S.R. from the 1960's to the 1970's. He labeled 

 the early, modest, limited exchange visits as "the icebreaker." Then 

 he warned the Symington subcommittee that if cooperation were to 

 flourish, there must be a relaxation of the rigid "off limits" rules in 

 both countries. He noted that travelers from either country suffered 

 from reciprocal countermeasures. He warned that: 



It the level of exchange is to be expanded significantly, this nonsense must 

 cease on both sides. 



Mosher added to the balance of the hearings by pointedly re- 

 marking that the impression had been circulated that the United 



