In order to understand the whole support situation it is necessary to look 

 beyond a bare statistical comparison of Dr. Bush's recommendations and the 

 Foundation's financial resources. As pre\'iously mentioned, Dr. Bush had 

 visualized the Foundation as the sole support of basic research in the Govern- 

 ment. This has been far from the fact. As already noted, a number of 

 agencies began actively to support basic research during the five years of 

 legislative debate of the National Science Foundation bills. It is estimated 

 that in 1956 the Federal Government obligated about $200 million for basic 

 research. Of this amount somewhat less than $120 million went for basic 

 research related to "national defense" (Department of Defense $72 million, 

 and Atomic Energy Commission $45 million). Twenty-six million dollars 

 represents the total basic research reported bv the National Institutes of 

 Health for the year. The remainder of the $200 million is variously distrib- 

 uted among the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, National 

 Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, National Science Foundation, and the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



Rough estimates indicate that about $115 million of the $200 million total 

 1956 obligation for basic research went to nonprofit institutions, including 

 colleges and universities, research centers, research institutions, hospitals, and 

 so on. Thus it would appear from these estimates that although the Founda- 

 tion itself had not reached the projected level of basic research support pro- 

 posed for its fifth year the Federal Government as a whole was providing the 

 kind of basic research support visualized by Dr. Bush at a level somewhat 

 higher than he projected. 



In the history of the National Science Foundation's appropriations one is 

 able to trace something of the public reaction to the international and national 

 political situation. A $15 million limit on the Foundation's appropriations 

 had been written into the law.* For its first year of operations, however, 

 Congress appropriated to the Foundation only a small fraction of that amount 

 — $3.5 million. Appropriations for the Foundation climbed slowly but steadily 

 as Congress gained confidence in its operations and possibly also as a result 

 of some dawning recognition on the part of the public of the importance of 

 basic research. By the fifth year, 1956, the appropriation was up to $16 

 million. In the summer of 1955 the Foundation published a National Re- 

 search Council study, Soviet Professional Manpower, which drew sobering 

 comparisons between the rates at w^hich the U. S. and the U.S.S.R. are train- 

 ing scientific and technical manpower. One result of these findings was 

 that the Congress sharply increased Foundation funds for education in the 

 sciences. The Foundation appropriation for fiscal year 1957, $40 million, 

 more than doubled that of the preceding year. The next large increment 

 came in 1959 when $130 million was appropriated in the wake of intense 

 national concern over the Russian sputnik and all that it implied. Funds 

 available for fiscal year 1960 total more than $159 million. 



What can be said in summation? The principal mechanisms recommended 

 by Dr. Bush for the support and encouragement of basic research and educa- 

 tion in the sciences have been realized. All branches of the Federal Govern- 

 ment have recognized the importance of these matters to the public welfare, 



* This limitation was repealed by Act of Aug. 8, 1953 (67 Stat. 488). 



XXV 



