38 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



man, the Chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 

 the Chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, the Chair- 

 man of the Committee on Medical Research, one representative of the Army 

 designated by the Secretary of War and one representative of the Navy des- 

 ignated by the Secretary of the Navy. This Council, which will be discussed 

 later in the present chapter, proved useful not only for its direct activities, 

 but also because of the co-ordination it implied of research activities within 

 the War and Navy Departments respectively. 



The National Defense Research Committee was created by Paragraph 7 

 of the Executive Order. Selection of the eight members followed the pat- 

 tern of the earlier order of the Council of National Defense, except that the 

 four civilians not serving ex-officio were not named in the Executive Order. 

 The order also envisaged the possibility that the President might later 

 appoint additional members of the Committee, but this was never done. 

 The only change in the membership of the NDRC made as a result of the 

 establishment of OSRD was the consequence of Bush's selection as Director 

 of OSRD. Conant became Chairman of NDRC and Roger Adams, who 

 had been a Vice-Chairman of Division B, was appointed to the vacancy 

 on the Committee. 



The language of Paragraph 7 which points up the changed character of 

 the functions of the NDRC is as follows: 



The National Defense Research Committee shall advise and assist the Director in 

 the performance of his scientific research duties with special reference to the 

 mobilization of the scientific personnel and resources of the Nation. To this end 

 it shall be the responsibility of the Committee to recommend to the Director the 

 need for and character of contracts to be entered into with universities, research 

 institutes, and industrial laboratories for research and development on instru- 

 mentalities of warfare to supplement such research and development activities of 

 the Departments of War and Navy. Furthermore, the Committee shall from time 

 to time make findings, and submit recommendations to the Director with respect 

 to the adequacy, progress, and results of research on scientific problems related to 

 national defense. 



It will be noted that a fundamental change was made in the character 

 of NDRC. As a committee of the Council of National Defense it had the 

 authority to act; as a committee of OSRD it had only the authority to rec- 

 ommend. In practice, the Director accepted most of the recommendations 

 made by the NDRC as might be expected in view of the caliber of men 

 constituting that Committee and the fact that the Director had worked 

 closely with them for a year as Chairman of the Committee. It should be 

 emphasized, however, that at no time did the Director become a rubber 

 stamp for the Committee; nor did the Committee shirk its responsibilities 

 on the theory that its actions were merely advisory. Where the reasons for 

 a particular recommendation were not clear or convincing to the Director, 



