American Science Policy since World War II

Bruce Smith

doi:10.5771/9780815705475

Summary

Just after the close of World War II, America's political and scientific leaders reached an informal consensus on how science could best serve the nation and how government might best support science. The consensus lasted a generation before it broke under the pressures created by the Vietnam War. Since then the nation has struggled to reestablish shared beliefs about the means and goals of science policy. In American Science Policy Since World War II, author Bruce L. R. Smith makes sense of the break between science and government and identifies the patterns on postwar science affairs. He explains that what might otherwise seem to be a miscellaneous set of separate episodes actually constituted a continuing debate of national importance that was closely linked to broad political and economic trends. Smith's precise and unique analysis gives both the scholar and historian a better understanding of where we are and how we got there while casting a modest light on future policy directions.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2011
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-7997-1
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-0547-5
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 230
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Some Boundaries No access
2. Science and Values No access
3. Science and Democracy No access
4. Science and the Public Policy Agenda No access
1. The Early Growth of Scientific Endeavor No access
2. The Research System at the Turn of the Century No access
3. Beginnings of Modern Science Policy No access
1. Federal Support for Basic Research No access
2. Evolution of the Government Research Establishment No access
3. Commercialization of Technical Discoveries No access
4. Science and Regulation No access
5. International Context of Science Policy No access
6. Summary No access
1. Challenges to the Articles of Faith No access
2. Promoting Civil Sector Technology No access
3. Social Control of Technology No access
4. The Loss of Technological Advantage No access
5. Science in the State Department No access
1. The Revival of Faith in Basic Research No access
2. The Reagan Administration's Science and Technology Policy No access
3. The 1980s in Perspective No access
1. Maintaining Pluralism No access
2. An Affordable Research System? No access
3. Revitalizing Government Research No access
4. Strengthening the Universities No access
5. Evaluating Peer Review No access
6. Modernizing American Industry No access
7. Breaking the Regulatory Gridlock No access
8. Conclusions No access
Notes No access Pages 193 - 220
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2. B No access
3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
8. H No access
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10. J No access
11. K No access
12. L No access
13. M No access
14. N No access
15. O No access
16. P No access
17. R No access
18. S No access
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20. U No access
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24. Z No access