DEMOBILIZATION OF OSRD 3II 



has utility outside the military field and properly within the field of activities 

 of the Public Health Service. 



3, Transfer to the auspices of private foundations or private research groups, 

 or to such new governmental agency as may be established, medical research 

 not to be continued under either military or Public Health Service auspices. 



I am hopeful that the more significant parts of the OSRD program in the 

 medical field can be handled in one of these ways. Those parts which cannot 

 be so handled, I would propose to schedule for completion not later than Febru- 

 ary 28, 1946. In the event that a permanent research agency has not been es- 

 tablished by February 28, 1946, the OSRD medical projects of greatest long-' 

 term significance will not be terminated without a re-examination with you of 

 that policy. In all cases provision will be made for adequate reporting of work 

 already done. 



C. Field Service activities. 



OSRD had rather extensive operations in the field in close co-operation with 

 the military services. These operations should be discontinued and the men in the 

 field called home as speedily as the transportation situation in the various areas 

 permits, except for a few special instances where valuable work remains to be 

 done for the Services. In these few cases the field service work will be transferred 

 to the auspices of the Services if this proves to be possible. 



D. Interchange of scientific information with the British, which has been 

 active in all areas, should continue until the end of the program or until in- 

 structions are received to the contrary. 



Bush pointed out that the program outlined did not cause a gap between 

 the war research activities of OSRD and the scientific research activities 

 to be undertaken by the National Research Foundation, the establishment 

 of which had been recommended a short time before. Most of OSRD's 

 later efforts had been devoted to the development of weapons rather than 

 to fundamental research. With the changing art of modern war, the new 

 Foundation should take a fresh start and not merely continue research 

 which happened to be under way at the time of its organization. Bush 

 observed that research on atomic energy had been transferred from OSRD 

 to the War Department sometime previously. 



The President did not endorse this program for termination but wrote 

 instead, "I am reluctant at this time to see the liquidation of the greater 

 part of the organization which, under your leadership, has contributed 

 so brilliantly to the winning of the war." The President thought that it 

 would be unfortunate to break the continuity of supervision of actual 

 research work essential to the success of any scientific project. In his view 

 it would be desirable to maintain in their present status those major 

 projects under OSRD control until Congress actually established a perma- 

 nent Federal research agency. The President suggested that if it should 

 appear that Congress did not intend to establish a science foundation, 

 he would consult further with Bush as to the appropriate distribution 

 of projects in progress. He suggested that a number of the projects which 



