SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 1970-79 549 



BASIC CHARTER OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 



On May 16 and 17, 1979, the Brown subcommittee launched on a 

 year-long study of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 and 

 its numerous amendments. In announcing the hearings, Brown stated: 



The review is intended to be reflective, thorough, and broad ranging. We will 

 insure that appropriate individuals, organizations, communities, and stakeholders 

 are adequately represented in a series of public hearings, and we shall be welcoming 

 stimulating and creative thought on the Foundation's constitution and missions 



OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, 1970-79 



On April 8, 1970, Congressman Daddario wrote a brief letter to 

 Charles A. Lindbergh which opened with this paragraph: 



You may recall some years ago our personal conversation in my office with re- 

 gard to the developing relationship between science and technology. That was a most 

 significant day in the life of our committee; indeed, it was a direct forerunner to the 

 whole concept of Technology Assessment which has now taken root throughout the 

 government, the country and, in fact, the world. 



Lindbergh responded on April 15, stating in part: 



Without doubt the very survival of our civilization, if not that of mankind, 

 depends on our ability to foresee and control the fantastic forces of the various 

 technologies our scientific knowledge has released. * * * This is why I am so greatly 

 impressed by the efforts of your committee, and especially by your own understanding 

 of the dangers as well as the assets of science and technology. On the one hand, 

 technology is essential to us; on the other, it can easily destroy us. 



When George Reedy, in The Twilight of the Presidency, com- 

 mented that the Space Act of 1958 "was one of the few examples 

 in the last 40 years of a major statute orginating on Capitol Hill 

 rather than in the White House," he was writing in 1970 prior to the 

 passage of the legislation establishing the Office of Technology Assess- 

 ment. The OTA bill was a clear example of a bill written at the initia- 

 tive of Congress — and specifically at the initiative of the Daddario 

 subcommittee — to create an institution exclusively for the assistance 

 and use of Congress. 



As noted earlier in this volume (see pages 159-161), the Daddario 

 subcommittee held hearings on the issue in November and December of 

 1969 as a prelude to the 1970 introduction of the Daddario-Mosher bill 

 to establish the Office of Technology Assessment. In addition to three 

 major background studies which were completed in 1969, the National 

 Academy of Public Administration furnished in 1970 a study of tech- 

 nology assessment in the executive branch. 



