Article ID: CBB869305077

The Fall of Vannevar Bush: The Forgotten War for Control of Science Policy in Postwar America (2021)

unapi

Vannevar Bush was at the forefront of American research policy during World War II, but he suffered a steep fall after the war, and by 1948 had left government service altogether. What motivated such a significant loss of influence? Drawing on previously unexamined sources, this article traces the causes of Bush’s decline in authority to his loss of powerful allies, particularly with the death of Franklin Roosevelt and the retirement of Henry Stimson; to his long-standing feuds with military leaders; and to several political missteps on Bush’s part that alienated figures in Congress and elsewhere. Continued examples of personal conflict in the postwar period not only impacted Bush’s career, but also shaped the structure of the resulting institutions that emerged to fund Cold War–era science. Rather than an abrupt change occurring immediately after the war, the postwar transition to public institutions was both gradual and influenced by the personal networks that preceded it. Bush’s quiet departure from government was tied to the emergence of military dominance in American research, largely at the expense of civilian scientific leaders. Such a shift in control of research policy had a dramatic effect on resulting postwar initiatives, closely connecting scientific advancements to national security.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB869305077/

Similar Citations

Article Neuenschwander, Dwight E.; (2010)
Bright Ideas: From Concept to Hardware in the First Lasers (/isis/citation/CBB001320778/)

Book Berman, Elizabeth Popp; (2012)
Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine (/isis/citation/CBB001201809/)

Book Esakov, V. D.; Rubin, P. E.; (2003)
Kapitsa, Kreml' i nauka. Tom 1: Sozdanie Instituta fizicheskikh problem, 1934-1938 (/isis/citation/CBB000750376/)

Book Martini, Edwin A.; (2012)
Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty (/isis/citation/CBB001320939/)

Book Jenkins, Dominick; (2002)
The Final Frontier: America, Science, and Terror (/isis/citation/CBB000302210/)

Book Westwick, Peter J.; (2003)
The National Labs: Science in an American System, 1947-1974 (/isis/citation/CBB000302239/)

Article Kevles, Daniel J.; (2013)
Not a Hundred Millionaires (/isis/citation/CBB001201239/)

Article Bennett, Tony; (2014)
Liberal Government and the Practical History of Anthropology (/isis/citation/CBB001201582/)

Article Velleman, Barry L.; (2008)
The “Scientific Linguist” Goes to War: The United States A.S.T. Program in Foreign Languages (/isis/citation/CBB001211635/)

Article Audric, Brian; (2000)
The Meteorological Office Dunstable and the IDA Unit in World War II (/isis/citation/CBB001321063/)

Authors & Contributors
Alison Lynn McManus
Westwick, Peter J.
Velleman, Barry L.
Touchelay, Béatrice
Slayton, Rebecca
Schlitz, Michael
Concepts
Government sponsored science
Science and government
Science and war; science and the military
Societies; institutions; academies
World War II
Funding and finance
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Japan
France
Manchuria
Germany
China
Institutions
National Chemical Laboratory (England)
Société de Statistique de Paris
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Lincoln Laboratory
Musée de l'homme (Paris)
Naval Research Laboratory (U.S.)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment