84 



McDougalU Science Policy Task Force, page 11 



Anderson, who was agonizing over what to do about space in the wake of 

 Sputnik, wrote this to the President of DuPont: 



"I had a professor in math — calculus I think^who said 

 that I could sdve most problems in math if I could state 

 them correctly. If I could state my problem to you, I would 

 probably have it half-sdved. My trouble is that I can't-... I 

 went to see LBJ and pointed out that this problem was 

 likely to be tossed into the lap of Congress...J want the 

 military to have every opportunity to push satellites into 

 outer ^pace, but if that is the only thing we do then the 

 Russians, who are very adept at propaganda, will say that 

 the president's program for peaceful uses of ^)ace is 

 hypocrisy.. ..Perhaps the conquest cf outer ^)ace ought to 

 be left to a comjiletely separate civilian agency.... It may 

 be NACA or NSF should take charge. In my biU I assigned 

 it to the A EC... Now you can see what considerations cf 

 this kind do to an individual whose business life has been 

 devoted to running a little insurance company in a small 

 Western city." 



Later, however, Anderson told Senators not to despair. His 



experience on the Joint Atomic Energy Committee had taught him that 

 "committee members cannot compete with scientists on their own ground- 

 So we stay in our field— the objective." 



Congressmen are, by definition, more qualified than any expert 

 to weigh the national interest, and I am grateful we have you gentlemen 

 to do it- I can only suggest that in science, as in all else, the first duty 

 of government is to ensure the life and liberty of the people, which 

 translates into research for health, environmental sciences, and defense. I 

 personally do not like the notion of government responsibility for "the 

 pursuit of happiness." As for economic growth the government has evolved 

 a role in planting seed money for new fields, but ultimately it cannot do 

 for business what business is unwilling to do for itself. That, perhaps, was 

 the crux of Britain's later problems. I do not think American business 

 suffers from the British disease. Rather I believe that if we make the 



