chapter Ttvo 

 DISCUSSION OF SCIENCE LEGISLATION 



In my discussion of the legislative proposals for the promotion of science 

 I wish to dwell upon some basic facts and principles which should guide 

 us in formulating this legislation. 



The prominent role that the U. S. has played in the second World War 

 has been possible because of certain important characteristics of the 

 American people. I am concerned particularly with those that relate to 

 the progress in science and industry which has been so vital to our war 

 contribution. 



Dr. Vannevar Bush in his report, "Science, the Endless Frontier," has 

 stressed the necessity of progress in science, and has shown that basic or 

 fundamental scientific work in the universities of the world has been the 

 foundation on which this progress has been built. I do not want to repeat 

 what he has said so ably. , 



Since he presented this report we have had the announcement of the 

 atomic bomb and the Smyth report which tells of the scientific and indus- 

 trial work which led to it. The atomic bomb puts upon the proposed 

 scientific legislation an emphasis and an urgency of a new degree. I have 

 recently attended a four-day conference at the University of Chicago on 

 the subject of the atomic bomb. It was the overwhelming opinion that it 

 will be only a matter of three to five years before other nations, having 

 the requisite industrial power, will be able to construct such a bomb. There 

 is no possibility of permanently keeping "the secret" of the atomic bomb. 

 We thus have clearly a lead of only a few years. The important question 

 is whether we can retain such a lead. For the future security of the world 

 it is, therefore, vitally necessary to strengthen the United Nations organi- 

 zation and ultimately, through a world government, to control atomic 

 energy for the benefit of all mankind rather than have it as a perpetual 

 threat. In any case long range security will depend upon progress, par- 

 ticularly, scientific and industrial progress and of course, upon the strength- 

 ening of ties between nations making for goodwill and understanding. 



I shall endeavor to analyze a little more closely than was done in the 

 Bush report the factors upon which progress in the U. S. has reached the 



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