266 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



ment with the committee not to change his occupation without prior permis- 

 sion of the committee. 



As of December 7, 1945, there were approximately 7000 names on the 

 Reserved List; of these about 5600 were on the List because of work on 

 OSRD contracts. Inclusion on the List, which received consistent support 

 by Secretary Stimson, afforded a substantial measure of assurance that an 

 individual would not be taken from war research and inducted into the 

 Army or Navy. At one stage when the Army was making its greatest 

 demand for young men there appeared danger that the List would be 

 abandoned and a substantial number of the men on it called into the Army. 

 The storm was weathered, however, when the Army itself stressed to 

 Selective Service the importance of keeping the List intact. By the time 

 the war ended only twenty men on the Reserved List had been inducted. 



OSRD Personnel 



As was the case with contractor's personnel, NDRC had little difficulty 

 in obtaining deferments for its own key personnel in the beginning. Al- 

 though a few administrative posts were initially made the basis for de- 

 ferment requests, most of the requests were for incumbents of scientific 

 positions — largely Technical Aides and field service specialists. A Presi- 

 dential Order of November 17, 1942, introduced a measure of uniformity 

 in the requests for deferment of employees of all Federal departments and 

 agencies. A more rigorous procedure was established by Executive Order 

 No. 9309 of March 6, 1943, which directed the establishment in each 

 agency of an "Agency Committee" to be responsible for requesting occu- 

 pational deferment of employees of the agency, with its actions to be sub- 

 ject to review by a Presidential Review Committee in the War Manpower 

 Commission. The criterion to be followed by the Agency Committee was 

 "that the employee's civilian services are essential in that the loss thereof 

 would substantially impair activities essential to the war effort (including 

 necessary supporting activities and the maintenance of the national health, 

 safety and interest)." 



The Agency Committee was to submit to the Review Committee for its 

 approval a list of those positions in the agency deemed necessary to carry 

 out activities essential to the war effort. All such positions approved by the 

 Review Committee were to be known as "key positions." Key positions 

 were limited to positions involving serious difficulty of replacement be- 

 cause of a scarcity of available qualified personnel and because any in- 

 cumbent of the position must have had, in order to perform his duties 

 effectively, an extended period of training or specialized experience. 



Only one "key position" in OSRD was approved. All other requests made 



