9 



An accelerating tendency has been evident in the United States 

 since about 1915 for the problems and tasks of society to be recognized 

 as national in scope and amenable to solution in primarily national 

 terms. These have included the great depression, war, education, civil 

 rights, en\aronmental pollution, health and medical science, the 

 exploration of space and the oceans. The trend toward a national 

 approach in problem solving has been reinforced by such factors as — 



The sheer magnitude and scope of the problems and tasks; 



The appearance of an increasing array of major tasks essential 

 to society but offering no evident opportunity for direct profit 

 in their execution; 



The superior financial resources of the National Government; 



The growing technical sophistication of Federal administrative 

 staffs in tacMing large assignments; 



The gromng skills of the political decisionmakers in defining 

 problems and assigning responsibility for solving them; 



The expanding scope of the scientific method, and concurrent 

 political acceptance of the method, in dealing systematically and 

 objectively with an ever-larger fraction of public concerns. 

 Perhaps the most significant — certainly the most dramatic— event 

 evidencing this centralizing trend was the successful scientific and 

 technological effort in World War II to develop the atomic bomb. The 

 mounting of a large technological effort under Federal sponsorship 

 was not inconsistent with the historical growth of the American Nation. 

 Great national programs had been undertaken in the recent past to 

 dig the Panama Canal, to harness the Tennessee and western rivei's, 

 to restore the Dust Bowl. These were in the tradition of a pragmatic 

 Nation that had tied political power of the States to a national head 

 count, that located its county seats for 1-day access by local popula- 

 tions, that built post roads and railroads as national enterprises. But 

 the idea of a national effort toward a big goal achieved a higher level 

 of refinement in the atomic bomb project. It required the marshaling 

 of a large team of scientists, backed by the financial resources and 

 authority of the National Government, coordinated in the quest for 

 a defined objective; its outcome was the achievement of a scientific 

 goal long thought impossible. By the Congress and the public, the 

 conclusion was plausibly drawn in 1945 that the creativity of science 

 could be harnessed similarly to achieve other specific goals of society 

 as these were defined and adopted through the political process. ^ 



It is relevant to ask whether the attitude of Congress toward science 

 has been influenced by partisan considerations — whether, for example, 

 it has been closely involved with the contest between liberal and con- 

 servative. The details of method, procedure, and scope of the political 

 uses of science are indeed exposed at times to the stresses of political 

 controversy, but there appears to be general agreement that science as 

 an institution ought to be vigorously supported. Both major political 

 parties have accepted the initiative in encouraging expanded Federal 

 sponsorship of scientific research and education. PoHtical activists 

 have recognized in the scientific method a powerful instrument for 

 achieving social objectives while conservatives have seen in science a 

 means by which the products of many independent researchers can 

 stimulate economic and cultural growth with a minimum of Federal 

 contribution or intervention. 



