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327 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. ix (1960)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0327 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD An issue of THE ANNALS devoted to government and science needs no justifica- tion. The challenge to our scientific and technological position, implicit in Soviet space conquests, has resulted in a virtual consensus that government should act to correct such deficiencies as may exist. But this consensus disappears amid the welter of diagnoses as to what is wrong with our system and an even greater quantity of prescriptions and panaceas as to what should be done. The national government is clearly committed to a dominant role in stimulating, promoting, and supporting science, scientific research, and technological develop- ment. Since World War II numerous programs have been initiated and tremen- dous sums have been made available for research and development. And the will- ingness of Congress to underwrite further expansion is not flagging. Cold war threats and general competition with post-Sputnik Russia effectively deter tend- encies toward niggardliness or economy in this sector of public expenditure. Yet the very ease with which financial support for scientific programs can be secured may obscure many difficult and perplexing policy and administrative prob- lems connected with the role of government in scientific research and development. Money alone will not eliminate shortages of trained manpower. It may even com- plicate scientific progress by, among other things, intensifying bureaucratic tend- encies and increasing restrictions on desirable freedom for research. Money may also distort the content of research programs and divert the application of research energies. And in any case, financing is but one part of a complex problem. In a recent address Dr. George B. Kistiakowsky, the President's scientific ad- viser, suggested the fundamental character of the challenge facing the American people, by emphasizing that the country needs a general upgrading of its citizens' intellects, if we are to progress scientifically. He pointed out that even the gen- erally held concept of science is usually erroneous in that the average citizen gets technology all mixed up with science and confuses products that enhance human comforts with ideas of science. Our national objective, Dr. Kistiakowsky declared, should not be the crea- tion of an elite corps of intellectuals, but rather one of raising and improving the intellectual tone of our whole society. . . . We cannot achieve a desirable level of scientific activity until there is not only its acceptance by society but a conscious desire to cultivate and encourage intellectual excellence. If indeed Dr. Kistiakowsky's description of the problem is somewhere near the truth-and I fear that there is much evidence to support his views-then the prob- lems facing us are truly tremendous. They will not be solved by mere tinkering; they will require a reshaping of public attitudes, a redirection of public energies, for we are then talking about social, political, and economic change. This issue of THE ANNALS presents no consensus of views, but it does present some clear and appropriate analyses. Selection of the topics for treatment was no easy task. Some subjects which are obviously important are not dealt with. Ar- ticles on rocketry and space research, on science and foreign policy, on scientific manpower, on geophysics, and on many other topics would have been appropriate

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