1018 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Fuqua exerted strong leadership toward the establishment of 

 the Institute for Scientific and Technological Cooperation in 1979. 

 The committee )oined in the preliminary planning for the U.N. 

 Conference on Science and Technology, which Fuqua and six other 

 committee members attended in August 1979- 



Chapter XI 



From the early years of its establishment in 1959, the committee 

 has consistently nudged the Congress and the Nation toward an even- 

 tual, voluntary conversion to the metric system. In 1961, the committee 

 reported legislation to study the feasibility and problems involved in 

 possible conversion to metric. Similar legislation was finally enacted 

 in 1968. The Secretary of Commerce reported in 1971, recommending 

 that the change be made " deliberately and carefully" through a coor- 

 dinated national program with a specific target date for the U.S. to 

 "become predominantly, though not exclusively, metric." Legisla- 

 tion to implement the report did not obtain the required two-thirds 

 majority in 1974 needed for suspension of the rules, and ran into labor 

 and right wing opposition. But a compromise bill passed in 1975, 

 setting up a Presidentially appointed Metric Board, emphasizing any 

 conversion to the metric system would be strictly voluntary, but would 

 be coordinated through the Board and information distributed for 

 schools and industries. By the time the 1975 law was signed, Trinidad, 

 Tobago, Tonga, and the United States were the only nations in the 

 world which have resisted the worldwide trend to adopt the metric 

 system. Every Science Committee chairman, including Fuqua, has 

 publicly endorsed the concept that the United States should volun- 

 tarily move toward eventual adoption of the metric system. 



Chapter XII 



In its review and authorization of the National Science Founda- 

 tion, the committee fought to increase funding for basic research, high 

 school summer institutes, and general support for higher education in 

 the sciences. Mosher in particular called attention to developments 

 such as the decline in science education funding from 36 percent to 

 10 percent between 1970 and 1974. The committee was torn by an 

 emotional fight over the MACOS ("Man, a Course of Study") pro- 

 gram which had been funded by NSF for use in anthropology courses 

 for students in the fifth through seventh grades. Conlan charged that 

 films and readings on the habits of the Netsilik Eskimos included 

 "predominant emphasis on sex, pragmatic respect for life, shocking 

 film segments displaying gore and immoral acts." Committee members 

 reviewed the materials and films. Mosher, Symington, and Ottinger 

 argued that the Federal Government should not interpose its judgment 

 against the thousands of school boards throughout the country, which 



