430 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb (left), inventor of the supercritical wing, providing signifi- 

 cant increases in the speed and range of supersonic aircraft, briefs committee members at 

 NASA's Langley Research Center: Representatives James H. Scheuer (Democrat of New 

 York), Michael T. Blouin (Democrat of Iowa), and Don Fuqua (Democrat of Florida). 

 At right is Ralph N. Read of the committee staff. 



DISPAC 1977-78, CHAIRMAN SCHEUER 



It's difficult to assemble enough adjectives to describe Representa- 

 tive James H. Scheuer (Democrat of New York), who became chairman 

 of the subcommittee renamed "Domestic and International Scientific 

 Planning, Analysis and Cooperation" at the start of the 95th Congress 

 in January 1977. He has been variously called "brilliant, crazy, multi- 

 faceted, aggressive, witty, concerned, undisciplined, strong-willed, 

 and compassionate." There are very few subjects or areas in this 

 world which do not intrigue him, frequently to the point of grabbing 

 the phone and asking the committee to get up some new hearings. 

 Scheuer loved a good fight in a good cause, thrived on aggressive op- 

 position, and was absolutely fearless when it came to "rushing in 

 where angels fear to tread." Someone once described Scheuer as "a 

 loose cannon on a deck," which implies tremendous power without 

 direction, but he usually knew where he was going when he started 

 out. Intellectual curiosity impelled him to travel many bypaths in his 

 restless search for truth and justice. Long after other subcommittee 



