Science, The Endless Frontier

Bush submitted Science, The Endless Frontier to President Truman in July 1945, weeks after 'As We May Think' appeared in The Atlantic. The report made three arguments: scientific research is essential for national security, economic prosperity, and public health; basic research requires long-term support that industry cannot provide; and government funding must come without government direction—scientists, not bureaucrats, should decide which questions to pursue. Bush proposed an independent federal agency governed by scientists, insulated from political interference, distributing grants through peer review. The National Science Foundation, established in 1950 after five years of legislative negotiation, adopted this model with modifications. The report established the institutional framework within which American science operated for seven decades—a compact in which public funding supported research whose applications were unknown and often decades distant.