CHAPTER FIVE— INCLUSION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 

 IN THE SCOPE OF THE NATION AI SCIENCE FOUNDA- 

 TION, 1945-47: A GROUNDWORK FOR FUTURE PART- 

 NERSHIP 



I. Background of the Issue 



The piu-pose of this chapter is to examine the treatment of the 

 issue, under consideration from 1945 to 1947, as to whether the social 

 sciences should be included within the scope of the National Science 

 Foundation (NSF). 



For reasons unrelated to the issue of this study, the evolution of 

 NSF did not reach legislative enactment until 1950. But the question 

 as to whether the scope of NSF should include the social sciences 

 was resolved, for practical purposes, on July 3, 1946, when a key 

 vote in the Senate decided in favor of a permissive formula: NSF 

 was not to be told to accept or to exclude the social sciences, but it 

 had the option of doing either, with the unmistakable further impli- 

 cation that careful selectivity of projects to sponsor in this area was 

 a must. 



What were the considerations in the Congress bearing on this 

 decision? What advice had been received, and from what sources, 

 that helped the Congress to select this alternative? What other in- 

 formation was available at the time? What consequences derived from 

 the decision? 



Origins of the National Science Foundation concept 



President Franklin Roosevelt had made sporadic attempts, during 

 the depression years, to enlist the resources of the physical sciences 

 to further national goals of economic recovery. Freedom from bm*eau- 

 cratic direction and assm*ance of unconditional support were necessary 

 conditions of such service, however, and these the President could 

 not provide. 



Nevertheless, evidence accumidated in the 1930's as to the func- 

 tional relationship between progress in basic scientific discovery and 

 the capability to solve large national problems.^ There was a fiu^ther 

 relationship, also becoming apparent, between the growth of tech- 

 nological application and the economic well-being of society.^ How- 

 ever, no means had been devised — except in the special case of agri- 

 cultm'e — for systematically exploiting the resources of basic and 

 applied science and technology for public purposes. The scope of 

 applicability of the scientific method for public purposes had not 

 emerged as a serious question. 



Historically, the United States had contributed few achievements 

 in the basic sciences. Research centers mostly in Eiu'ope had led the 



1 See, for example: U.S. National Resources Committee. Research— A National Resource. Pt. 1. Rela- 

 tions of the Federal Government to Research. November 1938. Report of the Science Committee to the * * * 

 (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938), 255 pages. 



2 See, for example: U.S. National Resources Planning Board. Research— A National Resource. Pt. H. 

 Industrial Research. December 1940. Report of the National Research Council to the * * * (Washington, 

 U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941), especially p. 42. 



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