Filed under the category FG (Federal Government-Organization) are materials pertaining to matters such as establishment, disestablishment, organization, reorganization, audits, inspections, investigations, location, relocation, regulations, reports, appointments, and endorsements to top positions.
FG 182 contains correspondence pertaining to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which was established in 1950, given additional authority under the 1958 National Defense Education Act, and assumed the function of the Office of Science and Technology when it was abolished in 1973. The Foundation consists of the National Science Board of twenty-four members, a Director, Deputy Director, and four Assistant Directors. The Director is the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation and serves ex officio as a member of the Board and as Chairman of its Executive Committee. The fundamental purpose of the NSF is to strengthen research and education in the sciences in the United States. Correspondents represented in the files include, among others, the President; numerous White House staff members; successive Foundation Directors Leland Haworth, William D. McElroy and H. Guyford Stever; successive NSB Chairmen Philip Handler and H.E. Carter; Congressmen; and various university officials. Related subject categories in the White House Central Files include:
FG 6-4 National Aeronautics and Space Council
FG 6-9 Office of Science and Technology
FG 6-11-1/Flanigan, Peter Flanigan, Peter
FG 119 Federal Council on Science and Technology
FG 152 National Academy of Sciences
FG 164 National Aeronautics and Space Administration
FG 209 President's Science Advisory Committee
FG 182 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
The Executive file materials concern Foundation personnel, budget, reports, meetings, policies and programs. Nominations, appointments, swearing-in ceremonies and resignations of Foundation executives are among the types of correspondence concerning personnel. Additionally, many letters concern a controversy over the failed appointment of Dr. Franklin Long to Foundation Directorship, because of his opposition to the ABM program. Documents concerning budget matters involve a NSF authorization bill, and how budget cuts affect Foundation grant agreements with colleges and universities. Reports include the Foundation's annual reports; annual reports on weather modification; NSB reports on public policy for graduate education; and a report on Federal funds for science research and development activities. NSF and NSB meetings are documented in the files, as are agendas for meetings with the President, and conferences such as a regional one on science and technology for urban programs. Foundation policy concerns are reflected in a NSB statement of concern for the future strength of American science, the effects of Federal Science programs on the fiscal solvency of colleges and universities, the application of science to the solution of pressing social problems, and the utilization of technology to improve the quality of life in under-developed nations. Other topics reflecting policy include a European facility for social and economic policy and planning; an outline of objectives and goals; and international agricultural policy. Matters relating to programs concern sea grants and student grants; Congressional notification of NSF grants; and the application of NSF grants to scientific research relevant to national problems and public interest. Other program topics concern NSF educational support programs; cooperative programs with Australia, the People's Republic of China, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; United States programs in the Antarctic; research and development programs in policy analysis, energy, and pest management; research and development recoupment; and defense research in universities.
Topics in the General file include the Foundation budget; a controversy over the appointment of Dr. Franklin Long as NSF Director; annual reports on weather modification; Federal assistance to maintain publication of the "Journal of Remote Sensing;" a proposal to use the NSF as the agency to evaluate the effectiveness of domestic program experiments; the interplay of science policy and foreign policy; Federal policy towards social research; Federal support for science education through the Foundation; training programs for high school students; an Australian exchange program for high school students; Foundations grants; review of Carson Laboratories' optical memory system; Soviet efforts to obtain a computer for the Yerevan Institute; and the energy crisis.
FG 182-1 NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD
The Executive file contains material including a Board statement on major concerns; annual reports; Board meetings; nominations for the position of Director and Deputy Director and for Board membership; the issue of biologists being represented on the Board and the President's Science Advisory Committee; Federal funds for graduate education; and the twentieth anniversary of the NSF.
The General file material concerns membership nominations and the representation of biologists on the Board and the President's Science Advisory Committee.
FG 182-2 ADVISORY PANEL OF PRESIDENTIAL PRIZES FOR INNOVATION
This panel was transferred from the Office of Science and Technology. Both the Executive and General files are empty of documents.
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