<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

The first permanent White House-level science advisory committee—the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Office of DefenseMobilization (SAC/ODM)—was created in 1951 in reaction to the military crisis in Korea. William A. Blanpied (ed.), Impacts of the Cold War on the Formulation of U.S. Science Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science), xxvii-xxviii. Dwight D. Eisenhower made it the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) in November 1957, one month after the Sputniklaunch. Detlev W. Bronk, “Science Advice in the White House,” in William T. Golden (ed.), Science Advice to the President (New York: Pergamon Press, 1980), 256.

These post-Civil-War events were usually seized upon by proponents of a more broadly based government-science relationship.Invariably, they were rebuffed, except for their success in launching the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1915, with federalgovernment and private sector members joining to promote development of civilian and military aviation. Dupree, op. cit. , 283-87. NACA was chartered to operate research facilities and award contracts to non-federal organizations,and in 1940, was chaired by Vannevar Bush.

Interlocking organizations

Bush established a tradition of ubiquity that was to be maintained for many years. From 1940 to 1947, he served variously (andoften simultaneously) as chair of the National Research Defense Council, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and NACA, and was president ofthe Carnegie Institution. Well into the 1960s, many key individuals served similarly. Lee DuBridge, President of the California Institute of Technology,served as director of the Radiation Laboratory during World War II, a charter member of the National Science Board, chair of the Science Advisory Committee tothe Office of Defense Mobilization, charter member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, and as the first of two science advisors to PresidentRichard M. Nixon. Detlev Bronk, President of Johns Hopkins University, was elected President of the National Academy of Sciences in 1950, served as acharter member and later chairman of the National Science Board, and was for a time a leading contender to become the first director of the National ScienceFoundation. James B. Conant, president of Harvard University, served concurrently as chairman of the National Research Defense Council after it wasabsorbed into the Office of Scientific Research and Development in June 1950, was the first chairman of the National Science Board, and was a member of theGeneral Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission. Following his World War II service as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, J. Robert Oppenheimerbecame director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. During those Princeton years, and preceding his banishment from government in 1954, he servedconcurrent terms as a member of the Science Advisory Committee to the Office of Defense Mobilization and chairman of the General Advisory Committee to theAtomic Energy Commission.

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, A history of federal science policy from the new deal to the present. OpenStax CNX. Jun 26, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11210/1.2
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'A history of federal science policy from the new deal to the present' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask