Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007
From Interwar to Cold War: Selling Field Science in the United States, 1920s Through 1950s
From Interwar to Cold War: Selling Field Science in the United States, 1920s Through 1950s
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Page Range: 55 – 78
A comparison of why proposed science programs succeed or fail to attract public financial support in the American political arena, this article examines three cases ranging from the 1920s to the 1950s: a unique, multi-disciplinary proposal emerging from the U.S. Navy's 1924 conference on oceanography, U.S. participation in the Second International Polar Year of 1932-1933, and U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. Each proposal emphasized societal benefits and applications of the earth, ocean, or atmospheric sciences. Each began from the bottom up, i.e., people trained and working in the scientific disciplines originated the idea and expressed their support through reports, letters, and participation in committees or conferences. However the proposals experienced different fates. While the promoters of the International Geophysical Year succeeded in gaining relatively substantial federal support, and the backers of the Second International Polar Year gained a modest amount, the U.S. Navy failed to persuade the Coolidge White House to request congressional appropriations for an oceanographic program. The concepts and tools from policy analysis can help to explain why the proposals experienced different outcomes.
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