493 



President's request for Peace Corps legislation was taken up. Mem- 

 bers of Congress later expressed gratification at the quality and quan- 

 tity of this information. The new agency was ratified legislatively 

 with little delay. It was generally successful and well regarded. 



Sources^ kinds of technical information for Congress. — ^To design 

 the new social invention required information on preparation and 

 training of volunteers for service, structure and policies of the sup- 

 porting agency at home and in the field, relations and functions of 

 volunteers in site countries, overall specifications for the program, 

 plans for evaluation of its work, and reactions to the concept by the 

 U.S. public and in interested countries. Sources of much of this in- 

 formation were Peace Corps Director and his staff (overall program, 

 selection and training, identification of cultural obstacles to tech- 

 nology transfer and ways to overcome them, analysis of deficiency 

 in middle-level teclmological manpower in site countries that volun- 

 teer personnel would correct) ; conferences organized by Representa- 

 tive Reuss (discussion of alternatives, review of detailed questions, 

 indication of public consensus) ; CSU Research Foundation (need 

 for research as basis of program, need for postaudit evaluation pro- 

 gram ; public consensus, views of leaders in potential site comitries) ; 

 other supporting materials (eyewitness accounts of training program 

 given by Members of Congress, public opinion polls, newspaper edi- 

 torials and articles, and extensive expressions of support within the 

 college community). 



Decision. — Enactment of legislation authorizing the Peace Corps 

 as requested by the President; acknowledgement of its experimental 

 nature ; $40 million appropriation authorization. 



Decision locus. — The legislative process. 



Assess77ient. — Favorable reception of the plan was helped by long- 

 standing congressional interest in the subject and by the intensive 

 program analysis made available. Some effort was made to examine 

 cultural problems of technology transfer. 



Commentary. — Acceptability was preconditioned by large favor- 

 able consensus. Extensive preparation had helped eliminate potential 

 problems and increased its acceptability. The preparation, undertaken 

 by a temporary agency, was aided by the findings of a preparatory 

 study authorized by Congress. Current criticisms of the Peace Corps 

 program have identified lack of needed research and evaluation capa- 

 bility, and the need to improve the technical training of volunteers 

 wlio characteristically have liberal arts backgrounds. The former 

 problem was foreseen during the 1961 hearings but not dealt with; 

 the latter has evolved subsequently. It is possible that congressional 

 oversight of Peace Corps operations in the future might benefit from 

 evaluations made by social scientists and professional consultants in 

 technical assistance. 



OASE eight: high energy physics 



Background. — Enthusiasm for Government sponsorship of basic 

 scientific research after World War II was high. Achievements in the 

 field of applied atomic science, based on prewar basic research into 

 the atomic nucleus, exemplified the potential values and importance 

 of basic investigation. 



