113 



bodied in the biH" made specific provision for the social sciences. 

 The report continued: 



In recommending that the program of the Foundation include the social sciences, 

 your subcommittee is implementing the recommendations of the President and 

 the majority of the witnesses who testified on this subject. Not a single witness 

 opposed the Federal support of the social sciences. A minority urged that such 

 support be deferred or provided in a separate agency.*^ 



In an accompanying appendix, the subcommittee provided a 

 summary of the testimony on the various issues. Witnesses comment- 

 ing on the social sciences were divided as follows: Those favoring 

 unqualified inclusion of the social sciences in the NSF, 37; an addi- 

 tional 8 favored it with reservations; those favoring a separate 

 agency for the social sciences, none. The publication devoted 13 

 pages to the social science issue, and remarked that "in addition to 

 the social scientists who lu-ged mclusion of their fields in the program 

 of the proposed foundation, a most substantial majority of other 

 witnesses also came out for the social sciences as essential to a national 

 science program." ** The summary included reference to the following 

 aspects, pro and con: 



A. POINTS IN FAVOR OF FEDERAL SPONSORSHIP OF RESEARCH IN THE 



SOCIAL SCIENCES 



1. The lag in social science research needs to be corrected. 



2. The utility of social inventions has been demonstrated. 



3. The accommodation of society to the impact of new technology 

 requu'es social science research. 



4. Mechanisms for the exploitation of new technology involve 

 research in the social sciences for their development. 



5. Social science research provides coherence m the national defense 

 effort. 



6. The unity of all science requires that all be included in one 

 comprehensive program of sponsorship. 



7. Social science helps social change to occur by evolution rather 

 than by revolution. 



8. Social sciences help to set goals for the physical sciences. 



9. The major problems confronting society have a content that is 

 mainly in the field of the social sciences. 



10. Social sciences are a stimulus to the physical sciences, and vice 

 versa. 



1 1 . The study of the human environment cannot be separated from 

 the study of man, 



B. POINTS IN OPPOSITION TO FEDERAL SPONSORSHIP OF RESEARCH IN 



THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 



1. Social science research encounters problems of objectivity (its 

 findings may be exploited for political purposes, or used to influence 

 legislation). 



" U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs. National Science Foundation, "Preliminary 

 Report on Science Legislation, From tiie Subcommittee on War Mobilization to thie * * * Pursuant to S. 

 Res. 107 (78th Cong.) and S. Res. 146 (79th Gong.), Authorizing a Study of the Possibilities of Better 

 Mobilizing the National Resources of the United States," Dec. 21, 1945, print contauiing S. 1720, 79th 

 Cong^,_lst sess., Subcommittee Rept. No. 7 (Washington, U.S. Govenmient Printing Office, 1945), p. 2. 



w U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs- "Science Legislation: Analytical Summary of 

 Testimony," Appendix to report from Subcommittee on War Mobilization pursuant to S. Res. 107 (78th 

 Cong.) and S. Res. 146 (79th Cong.) , authorizing a study of the possibilities of better mobilizing the national 

 resources of the United States, December 1945. 79th Cong., 1st sess., Subcommittee Monograph No. 5 

 (Washington, U.S. Government Printmg Office, 1945), pp. 26-38. 



99-044 — 69 9 



