SCIEN< I RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, 1970-79 



Although not a member of the Science, Research and Technology Subcommittee, Repre- 

 sentative John B. Conlan (Republican of Arizona), left, stirred up a hornet's nest when he 

 attacked the National Science Foundation-funded MACOS program. At right is Representa- 

 tive Marvin L. Esch (Republican of Michigan). 



CONLANS STRATEGY 



Congressman Conlan had a good sense of timing and public rela- 

 tions. He realized that he could not win his argument on MACOS 

 through logic alone. He was very adept at using the news media, 

 speeches on the floor, and letters to his congressional colleagues to stir 

 emotional anger in the public mind concerning what he termed 

 bestiality, immorality, incest, wife-swapping, infanticide, geronticide, 

 murder, and cannibalism portrayed in the federally funded course of 

 books and films for fifth to seventh graders. When the full committee 

 met on March 6 to mark up the NSF authorization bill which the 

 Symington subcommittee had unanimously approved, Conlan threw an 

 incendiary bomb into the full committee's deliberations with an amend- 



