INCHIXc; TOWARD THE METRIC SYSTEM, 1959-79 463 



with the French Revolution. It was adopted by the French along about the time oi 

 the French Revolution, anj there was such a revulsion in Amcric .i against the excesses 

 of the French Revolution that our legislators did not adopt the recommendations of 

 Thomas Jefferson. 



Anderson, over Miller's opposition, succeeded in pushing through 

 two amendments, one to study the feasibility of keeping our existing 

 standard of measurement, and the second to require the Secretary of 

 Commerce to make positive recommendations on how the cost increases 

 of conversion to metric could be met in various areas. Fulton success- 

 fully sponsored an amendment to require that the study be made with 

 existing funds. The bill then passed by the surprisingly strong majority 

 of 269 to 42, and after clearing the Senate the legislation was signed 

 by President Johnson on August 9, 1968. 



TERMS OF THE 1968 METRIC STUDY LAW 



As finally enacted, the 1968 legislation provided for — 



a program of investigation, research and survey to determine the impact of in- 

 creasing use of the metric system in the United States; to appraise the desirability 

 and practicability of increasing the use of metric weights and measures in the United 

 States; to study the feasibility of retaining and promoting by international use of 

 dimensional and other engineering standards based on the customary measurement 

 units of the United States; and to evaluate the costs and benefits of alternative courses 

 of action which may be feasible for the United States. 



In July 1971, the Secretary of Commerce transmitted to the 

 Congress a 170-page report entitled "A Metric America — A Decision 

 Whose Time Has Come." Dr. Lewis M. Branscomb, Director of the 

 National Bureau of Standards, stated in sending the study supervised 

 by Daniel V. De Simone (later Deputy Director of the Office of Tech- 

 nology Assessment) up to the Secretary of Commerce: 



I am convinced that after nearly two hundred years of national debate on this 

 issue, the time has come for a national decision on a positive course of action. 



Among the recommendations of the Secretary of Commerce were these: 



That the United States change to the International Metric System deliberately 

 and carefully; 



That this be done through a coordinated national program; 



That the Congress assign the responsibility for guiding the change, and antic- 

 ipating the kinds of special problems described in the report, to a central coordinat- 

 ing bodv responsive to all sectors of our society; 



That the Congress, after deciding on a plan for the nation, establish a target date 

 ten years ahead, by which time the U.S. will have become predominantly, though 

 not exclusively, metric. 



Bv the time the study was forwarded to Congress, only thefollowing 

 nations of the world had not converted to the metric system : Barbados, 



