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1975/03/21 - President and National Science Board
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1534459
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1975/03/21 - President and National Science Board
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James M. Cannon Files (Ford Administration)
James Cannon's Meetings Files
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The original documents are located in Box 43, folder "1975/03/21 - President and National
Science Board" of the James M. Cannon Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 43 of the James M. Cannon Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
12:30 PM - National Science
Broad Meeting with the Presdient
Friday, March 21, 1975
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THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 20, 1975
MEETING WITH NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD
Friday, March 21, 1975
12:30 p.m. (30 minutes)
Cabinet Room
From: Jim Cannon June
I. PURPOSE
To provide an opportunity for the Board, at its request, to
meet with you and present views on how science and technology
can make a greater contribution to the solution of important
National problems.
II. BACKGROUND, PARTICIPANTS AND PRESS PLAN
A. Background
The National Science Board is the Presidentially-appointed
policy making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Members serve six-year terms. You have appointed 6 of the
25 members (listed at Tab A). NSF Director Guy Stever is
a member of the Board. The Board will be celebrating its
25th Anniversary next week.
The Board's sixth annual report with your letter of transmittal
is being delivered to Congress and released to the press today
(March 21).
Members of the Board have developed a proposed agenda for
its meeting with you (enclosed at Tab B). Briefly, their plans
call for:
Brief opening remarks by Board Chairman Norman Hackerman
commenting on the Board's past activities, the strength of
- 2 -
the Nation's research establishment, and the support you
have given for research in the 1976 Budget (an increase
of 10%, from $7. 4 billion in 1975 to $8. 2 billion in 1976).
Members of the Board would:
- describe selected scientific applications, including
applications in energy, medicine, hybrid crops,
earthquake prediction, genetics, transistors and
polymers.
- review some of the challenges facing the Nation where
additional research is required and where science can
contribute.
- comment on difficulties in the Nation's research estab-
lishment (especially colleges and universities) because
of budgetary constraints and the impact of inflation in
negating increases in Federal funding.
The Board will not bring up the issue of a White House Science
Advisory organization. (A talking point is provided below if
you wish to bring it up. )
B. Participants: See Tab A
C. Press Plan: Press Photo opportunity, White House photographer
III. TALKING POINTS
[Opening remarks by Chairman Ackerman who will present a
bound copy of the Board's Annual Report. ]
I appreciate receiving this special copy of your report. I am
transmitting your report to the Congress and releasing it to the
press today.
My 1976 Budget includes a 10% increase in funding for research.
Ideally we would spend more for research. Many programs have
been held to smaller increases.
EPA has announced that catalytic converters cause serious unforseen
health hazards. Do you have ideas on how to prevent such costly
mistakes--recognizing that pressure for quick action forces
regulatory agencies to act without adequate research.
I'm well aware of the strong interest in reestablishing a science
advisory mechanism in the White House. This is a very important
question which I will deal with soon. I'd welcome any comments
you wish to make.
PARTICIPANTS
Members of the National Science Board
(23 of 25 members will attend)
* DR. NORMAN HACKERMAN, (Chairman), President, Rice University
DR. RUSSELL D. O'NEAL, (Vice Chairman), Executive Vice President
KMS Fusion, Inc., Ann Arbor
DR. W. GLENN CAMPBELL, Director, Hoover Institution on War
Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University
DR. H.E. CARTER, Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Programs
University of Arizona
DR. ROBERT A. CHARPIE, President, Cabot Corporation
*DR. JEWEL PLUMMER COBB, Dean, Connecticut College, New London
DR. LLOYD M. COOKE, Director of Urban Affairs and University
Relations, Union Carbide Corporation, New York
DR. ROBERT H. DICKE, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar
California Institute of Technology
DR. DAVID M. GATES, Professor of Botany, Biological Station,
University of Michigan
DR. T. MARSHALL HAHN, JR., Executive Vice President,
Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Portland, Oregon
DR. ANNA J. HARRISON, Professor of Chemistry, Mount Holyoke College,
South Hadley, Massachusetts
DR. ROGER W. HEYNS, President, American Council on Education,
Washington, D. C.
DR. W.N. HUBBARD, JR., President, The Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo
* DR. SAUNDERS MAC LANE, Max Mason Distinguished Service, Professor
of Mathematics, University of Chicago
*Members you appointed
- 2 -
MR. WILLIAM H. MECKLING, Dean, Graduate School of Management
The University of Rochester
DR. WILLIAM A. NIERENBERG, Director, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, University of California at San Diego
DR. FRANK PRESS, Chairman, Department of Earth and Planetary
Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DR. JOSEPH M. REYNOLDS, Boyd Professor of Physics and
Vice President, Louisiana State University
* DR. DONALD B. RICE, JR., President, The Rand Corporation,
Santa Monica, California
DR. L. DONALD SHIELDS, President, California State Unviersity
Fullerton, California
DR. H. GUYFORD STEVER, Director, National Science Foundation
DR. F.P. THIEME, Special Consultant to the Board of Regents and
Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado
* DR. JAMES H. ZUMBERGE, Chancellor, University of Nebraska
Others
MISS VERNICE ANDERSON, Executive Secretary, National Science
Board
DR. PHILIP SMITH, Assistant to the Director, National Science
Foundation
White House Staff
Robert Goldwin
James Cannon
Mike Duval
Members not Attending
DR. HUBERT HEFFNER, Chairman, Department of Applied Physics,
Stanford University
DR. GROVER E. MURRAY, President, Texas Tech University and
School of Medicine, Lubbock, Texas
PROPOSED AGENDA: MEETING OF PRESIDENT FORD WITH THE NATIONAL SCIENCE
BOARD (NSB)
0 Briefly, in opening the meeting, NSB Chairman Hackerman would note
that in its 25th Anniversary year the NSB appreciates the opportunity
for a meeting with the President.
-- The first meeting of the NSB took place with President Truman in
the Cabinet Room in 1950.
-- The Board has had the occasion to meet with other Presidents over
the years.
0 It would be noted that over the post World War II years with continued
Presidential and Congressional support and through the establishment
of agencies such as NIH and NSF, the Nation has constructed the
world's best structure for the support of research. The Board appre-
ciates President Ford's support and notes especially that in the
face of economic constraints the FY 76 budget for R&D evidences
the continuing commitment of the Administration through scientific
research and development.
-- Basic research--as contrasted to applied research and development
more characteristic of the mission agencies is the principal
investment in the Nation's long-term future scientific and tech-
nological future. It requires the sizeable and sophisticated
scientific establishment with trained people, facilities, and
instrumentation and the continued support which has come to be
recognized as a proper Federal role since pay-off is distant
and less attractive to industry.
There are a growing number of studies that illustrate the fact
that science and technology are contributing an ever larger portion
of the total GNP.
0 It would be noted that there have been some significant
advances in sciences that draw upon the Federal investment made
through agencies such as NSF, NIH, Agriculture, etc.
-- The advances in nuclear physics that have led to dramatic appli-
cations, ranging from energy to medicine.
-- Successes in biology that have led to the new hybrid crops.
-- The new understanding of plate tectonics and the sea floor
spreading process and the implications for future mineral supplies
and the possibility of predicting earthquakes.
-2-
The evolving understanding of genetics, DNA, and the genetic
code.
The advances in solid state physics that have produced the
transistor, integrated circuits, and the computer.
-- The profound effect that basic research in polymer chemistry has
had on our industrially-based economy.
0 There are before the Nation a number of challenges where science
can be of assistance. This has been the theme of the 1974 report of
the National Science Board (Science And The Challenges Ahead) which
is now being forwarded by the President to the Congress. Some of
the national needs and scientific opportunities are not now being
fully met. Continued attention is required to ensure that the best
Federal and industrial strategy develops for prosecuting these
opportunities. There are some examples that can be cited.
-- Through work in the U.S. (and also investigation in the USSR
the results of which became available through the exchanges
following the May 1972 agreements) the scientific community
believes that earthquake prediction is possible.
Though materials shortages are cited as a future crisis it is
difficult to identify specific shortages in the near term. Acce-
lerating longer term materials research may provide the best
alternative in ensuring the necessary base for our economy.
-- The environmental data base necessary to better understand the
technical basis for regulatory standards, short and longer term
climate variations severe storms, problems of water quality and
waste tratement, the management of the Great Lakes and so on
needs to be greatly enlarged. We do not now have a sufficient
understanding, for example, to unequivocally specify ambient
air standards.
0 Some difficulties exist in the research establishment especially
the Nation's colleges and universities. These problems stem from
inflation, budgetary constraints (in constant dollars), changing
age of the industrial and academic science and engineering popula-
tion and finally from institutional problems related to the very
rapid acceleration of growth in the 1960's and the subsequent
leveling of growth in the 1970's. Some specific indicators are:
The fact that the number of doctoral candidates entering graduate
schools in science and engineering has dropped.
-3-
-- The numbers of minorities and women entering science continues
to be disappointing in spite of the national mandate to make
improvements in this area.
-- Young investigators are being squeezed out as the institutional
base stablizes.
-- New instrumentation needs (not the large facilities but the
laboratory and other general instrumentation needs) are not
being fully met.
-- Tight budget periods create a tendancy to put aside high risk
research and other new initiatives that may have especially
high yield but very unpredictable payoff.
0 It is the National Science Board's belief that these are problems
in which the scientific and engineering community, the Administration,
the Congress, and the public must work together to bring about the
best possible resolution.
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