CHAPTER XIX 



ACCEPTANCE OF VOLUNTARY SERVICES 



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NE of the most striking features of the organization of both 

 NDRC and OSRD was the extent to which use was made of the volun- 

 tary part-time services of outstanding scientists (referred to as "WOC" — 

 without compensation — in the jargon of personnel administration). The 

 pattern was set in the order of June 27, 1940, which created NDRC and 

 later in the Executive Order establishing OSRD; in both cases it was 

 specified that the top personnel should serve as such without compensa- 

 tion. The President of the National Academy of Sciences who served as 

 an ex officio member of the NDRC under the terms of both orders was 

 the President of Bell Telephone Laboratories. The Director of OSRD and 

 the civilian members of NDRC and CMR who received their appoint- 

 ments at the hands of the President were receiving compensation from 

 outstanding educational and scientific institutions, all of which had Gov- 

 ernment contracts. The same pattern was followed by NDRC and CMR 

 in setting up their divisions and sections; legal authority was expressly 

 given in several appropriations acts for the "acceptance and utilization of 

 voluntary and uncompensated services" by OEM agencies. The reason for 

 the emphasis placed in the previous sentences on the industrial and profes- 

 sional employment of OSRD WOC personnel will appear later in this 

 chapter. The extent to which the OSRD relied upon WOC appointments 

 was periodically reported to the Bureau of the Budget and the Appropria- 

 tions Committee of the House of Representatives. 



Conceivably OSRD could have been built up without utilizing WOC 

 services. In that case, it probably would have been manned by different 

 personnel; for it is unlikely that Bush, Conant, Compton, Jewett and Rich- 

 ards would have resigned the Presidencies of Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 

 Bell Telephone Laboratories and the Vice-Presidency of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, respectively, to accept full-time positions with the Govern- 

 ment. 



The same is true of their colleagues. The public interest would have 

 suffered if many of them had left their regular posts for full-time employ- 

 ment with the Government. The total war effort was much broader than 

 OSRD. The several hundred (the average number in 1944 was about 430) 

 WOC appointees of OSRD played very important roles in the winning 



