IP: Truman Speech on Science

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 109: July 20, 1998


President Truman on Science Funding: 1948


Almost 50 years ago, in September 1948, President Harry Truman
addressed the American Association for the Advancement of Science
on its 100th anniversary.  The type of funding issues President
Truman discussed will be considered as Congress votes on the FY
1999 appropriations bills in coming weeks.  Other remarks
describe the issues facing American scientists following World
War II.




"In the 100 years since this Association was organized, science
has helped transform the United States into the most productive
nation in the world.  I know that in your meetings this week you
will be looking back over the progress of American science in the
past century.  I also know that you are much more interested in
looking into the future.


"You are looking forward, I know, because we stand at the
threshold of revolutionary developments.  Scientific research
daily becomes more important to our agriculture, our industry,
and our health.  The members of this Association know better than
I what developments to expect in the years ahead in physics, in
chemistry, in biology and the other sciences, but I am certain of
this--that science will change our lives in the century ahead
even more than it has changed them in the 100 years just past.


"I hope you will also be thinking about the relationship between
science and our national policy.


"Two years ago, I appointed a Scientific Research Board.  Its
report, entitled  Science and Public Policy,' was submitted last
fall to the 80th Congress.  That report stressed the importance
of science to our national welfare, and it contained a number of
important recommendations.  The most important were these:


"First, we should double our total public and private allocations
of funds to the sciences...."


"Second, greater emphasis should be placed on basic research and
on medical research.


"Third, a National Science Foundation should be established.


"Fourth, more aid should be granted to the universities, both for
student scholarships and for research facilities.


"Fifth, the work of the research agencies of the Federal
Government should be better financed and coordinated."


"I know that you are also deeply concerned with the relationship
of science to our national defense and security.  Three years
ago, when the fighting stopped all of us were eager to return to
our peacetime pursuits.  The first thought of a great many us was
how to translate our wartime advances in scientific knowledge
into better standards of living."


"If we are to maintain the leadership in science that is
essential to national strength, we must vigorously press ahead in
research.  There is one simple axiom on which this thought is
based.  The secrets of nature are not our monopoly.  Any nation
that is willing and able to make the effort can learn the secrets
that we have learned.  Such a nation may, indeed, discover new
facts of nature we have not yet discovered.
 
"Our problem, therefore, is not a static one of preserving what
we have.  Our problem is to continue to engage in pure--or
fundamental--research in all scientific fields.  Such research
alone leads to striking developments that mean leadership.  Yet
it is precisely in this area that we, as a nation, have been
weakest.  We have been strong in applied science and in
technology, but in the past we have relied largely on Europe for
basic knowledge.


"Pure research is arduous, demanding, and difficult.  It requires
unusual intellectual powers.  It requires extensive and
specialized training.  It requires intense concentration,
possible only when all the faculties of the scientist are brought
to bear on a problem, with no disturbances or distractions."


Truman then touched on the post World War II sentiment in the
nation: "Some of the fundamental research necessary to our
national interest is being undertaken by the Federal Government. 
The Government has, I believe, two obligations in connection with
this research if we are to obtain the results we hope for. 
First, it must provide truly adequate funds and facilities;
second, it must provide the working atmosphere in which research
progress is possible.


"Regarding the first point, the Government is developing
impressive programs in many scientific fields....  I sincerely
hope that these programs will be further developed and
coordinated by the early passage of a National Science Foundation
bill...."


"The second obligation of the Federal Government in connection
with basic research is to provide working conditions under which
scientists will be encouraged to work for the Government. 
Scientists do not want to work in ivory towers, but they do want
to work in an atmosphere free from suspicion, personal insult, or
politically motivated attacks.  It is highly unfortunate that we
have not been able to maintain the proper conditions for best
scientific work.  This failure has grave implications for our
national security and welfare."


"Continuous research by our best scientists is the key to
American scientific leadership and true national security...."


"We are only in the beginnings of the atomic age.  The knowledge
that we now have is but a fraction of the knowledge we must get,
whether for peaceful uses or for national defense.  We must
depend on intensive research to acquire the further knowledge we
need.  We cannot drive scientists into our laboratories, but, if
we tolerate reckless or unfair attacks, we can certainly drive
them out.


"These are truths that every scientist knows.  They are truths
that the American people need to understand."


"Now and in the years ahead, we need, more than anything else,
the honest and uncompromising common sense of science.  Science
means a method of thought.  That method is characterized by open-mindedness, honesty, perseverance, and, above all, by 
an
unflinching passion for knowledge and truth.  When more of the
peoples of the world have learned the ways of thought of the
scientist, we shall have better reason to expect lasting peace
and a fuller life for all."  


###############
Richard M. Jones
Public Information Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi () aip org
(301) 209-3095
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