How the Republicans Turned Their Back on Science Spring 2007: The Bush Years Robert F. Miller

1. How the Republicans Turned Their Back on Science Spring 2007: The Bush Years Robert F. Miller

2. On Our Way Robert F. Miller Neuroscience, University of Minnesota

4. Once, long ago, the two ruling political parties of the Empire supported science and scientific research and the Empire prospered. But an evil force emerged from the dark side and transformed one of the ruling parties into an ancient tribe of fierce Goths. The transformed Goth Party became hostile to science and suspicious of scientists… The Goths seized control of the Empire and began to marginalize science and trivialize scientists… They restricted the ability of scientists to explore new ideas and effect public policy on matters of health and the long-term future of the environment. And they suppressed too the expression of ideas and the free exchange of information The citizens of the Empire were slow to understand that a great Empire could not be achieved without the support of great science. It proved equally difficult to establish that the Goth attack on science was a direct attack on the Empire itself.

6. Science has been downgraded in America! Mainstream Media are beginning to sense that something is wrong…..!

8. Fortunately, we can fix this problem tonight Meet Doc Brown

9. De Lorean Time Machine Doc’s Tool….. History

10. The American Research University A brief account of how we got here………..

11. On the History of the American Research University in Capsule Form • Before WW II the government did not significantly support university research • The model for federal research was a WW I model in which professors were inducted into the army, did research in federal laboratories which were then disbanded at the close of the war and everyone went home

12. University Research Support Before WW II • Science with a small “s” • Very few national funding organizations • Russel Sage Foundation (1907; railroads; $10 M; Social Sciences) • Rockefeller Foundation (1909; Standard Oil; $50 M->$100 M) • Carnegie Foundation (1913 steel; $100 M) • Local philanthropy

13. Vannevar Bush • Office of Strategic Research and Development (V. Bush; OSRD;independent of NRC) • National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) • James Bryant Conant (President, Harvard) • Karl Compton (President, MIT) • Frank Jewett (NAS Pres,Director, Bell Labs) • Richard Tolman (Dean Graduate School, Caltech) • Committee on Medical Research (CMR, largely NRC Medical Division structure) 1890-1974

14. 1944 War research benefit nation 1. Technology transfer 2. Medical Research 3. Federal support for universities 4. Federal support training scientists

15. Endless Frontier • V. Bush’s plan to introduce a permanent presence of Federal support for research, centered primarily in universities and controlled by scientists just as OSRD (FDR had agreed) • Emphasis on basic science “disinterested science” • Proposed a National Science organization as an umbrella under which all federally funded research for science would be administered. End of WW II

16. Cold War • Pentagon built in WW II made of unreinforced concrete. • Plan was to tear it down after the war but FDR suddenly died April 1945 (changed everything) • Truman was uninformed about FDR’s plans and sided with hard-liners (Forrestal/Byrnes vs Simpson/Wallace) • 11 days after FDR died Truman met with Russian Foreign Minister Molotov (Cold War begins). • James Forrestal/February 1946 George Kennan’s “long telegram” • “Mr X” in Foreign Affairs July, “Containment” military and diplomacy

17. Impact of Cold War on V. Bush Plan • Military-related research in universities began as the dominant theme • Military support of university research would exceed that of other agencies until 1960 • No support for university infrastructure • No support for graduate training • Research activity supported was biased towards applied research rather than basic

18. OSDR NDRC CMR National Science Foundation All Federally Funded Research Vannevar Bush Plan

19. OSDR NDRC CMR National Science Foundation All Federally Funded Research Vannevar Bush Plan

20. Vannevar Bush meets Truman OSDR ONR A Federal Research Economy was born (NIH, NSF, ONR,AEC) (NASA added later) CMR Military support of university research NDRC Established 1887 National Institute of Health NSF delayed until 1950 National Science Foundation

21. Who would be the recipients of the new Federal spending on research universities after WWII? Introducing…..the sweet sixteen…

22. Sweet Sixteen Research Universities • 1) University of Minnesota*; 2) Stanford; 3) University of Chicago; 4) Columbia University; 5) University of Illinois*; 6) University of Michigan*; 7) University of California (Berkeley)*; 8) Harvard; 9) Penn; 10) Princeton; 11) Cornell; 12) Johns Hopkins; 13) Yale; 14) MIT; 15) California Institute technology; 15) University of Wisconsin* • *public/state

23. Strategy was for sweet 16 to serve as the main recipients of federal revenues • Universities selected on the basis of # of Ph.Ds awarded and breadth of program • Peer-review mechanism established to relieve recipients’ fear of bureaucratic takeover of science

24. Mary Lasker • Played major role in enhancing the NIH budget through interactions with congressional members and public relations activities • Helped make the case that medical research had a good political karma Lasker Award is given each year to basic and clinical researchers. Many Lasker Award winners have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. Mary Lasker died in 1994, but Lasker foundation continues; first Lasker Award 1946

25. NIH vs NSF Funding NIH Lobbying done by lay people (Mary Lasker) Common to see budget cuts restored + NSF Lobbying done by scientists (from NAS) Rare to see budget cuts restored Budget growth very high Budget growth normal NIH became engine of basic biological sciences

27. Sputnik: October 1957

28. Sputnik shocked the nation! The Russians are Coming! • Physicist Edward Teller, the patron saint of the hydrogen bomb, said the United States had lost "a battle more important and greater than Pearl Harbor.“ • U.S. News & World Report said the launching ranked alongside nuclear fission in military importance. • Senator Henry Jackson called the satellite "a devastating blow to the prestige of the United States as the leader in the scientific and technical world."

29. Sputnik had nothing to do with the science of space exploration • Few months after Sputnik I and Sputnik II US launched Explorer I which carried geiger counters and discovered the first of the two Van Allen Radiation Belts • America never lost its lead in the science of space but lost the propaganda war which determined our reaction to Sputnik • Kennedy was willing to listen to advisors and use instrumentation for space exploration until Yuri Gagarin first Russian (1961) cosmonaut, followed by US Apollo program Man on Moon (1969)

30. U.S. Response to Sputnik • NASA formed • Seaborg Report (1960) • Scientific research should be regarded as an investment • Basic research and graduate education belong together at every level • Strengthening academic science was “critical for the national welfare and the responsibility of the federal government • Universities themselves lacked the means of supporting science, so a partnership between the universities and the national government is essential • Vannevar Bush’s original plan put into play

31. Seaborg Report (cont’d) • Called for a doubling of the number of “first rate academic centers of science.” • The Golden Era of American Research University is born (1958-1968) • 1958-1968: projected growth of 15%/yr • Federal funding for research reached its highest % of GNP (0.25% in 1968) • Greater role proposed for NSF in science funding and regulation* • Part of Kennedy’s “New Frontier”

32. Sputnik Stimulation

34. A few facts… • 1954 when federal government was supporting one-half of the research in medical schools, just 13 institutions expended more than $1 million and they constituted 50% of the total NIH extramural program $ • 1966 88 institutions received more than $1 million from NIH alone and the 13 largest recipients had only 32% of total NIH extramural program $ • 1960 “magical year” when NIH funding to universities exceeded Department of Defense funding • less programmatic research • more basic science research

35. “Not until I saw the whole story laid out in Chris Mooney’s thoroughly researched and documented book did I realize the enormity of what is happening. Reading this important book won’t make you feel good, but it will make you wiser.” Robert Park author of Voodoo Science The birthplace of a Trichotomy Vietnam War WW II NIH vs NSF Federal Funding Sputnik Nuclear Physics to Biology NIH Focus Expansion of research universities Goldwater Defeat (1964) Civil Rights southern strategy Silent Spring (Rachel Carson) New arena for science (policy) Reaganism government is the problem Deregulation (anti-science, anti-intellectualism, anti-isms Religious right into politics) Voila! A new Republican Party is born Free Market Economy

36. International survey “Do you accept validity of evolution.” But, the pursuit of abortion breast cancer relationship shows religious right intrusion into science

37. Downgrade UN/WHO research and US scientists who participate Blocked CDC/NIH endorsement of 2003 WHO/FAO Rpt Revamped US WHO delegation include Right to Life Told CDC/NIH scientists not to talk on tobacco/nutrition William R. Steiger Special Assistant to HHS Representative WHO board Alienated AIDS community emphasis on abstinence

38. How to diminish scientific input into government policies Abolish Agency OTA ESA 1995 Gingrich Congress Suppress Scientists (UCS) Change Science Standards ESA Data Quality Act (Center for Regulatory Effectiveness) (Jim Tozzi) Attack scientists and science Jan 2007 Bush policy change on regulation

39. LemuelBoulware

40. But as the Empire and its research universities struggled for their identity in the new, harsh world of the Goths.. Indeed at the very darkest moment of the Empire, the citizens undertook an act of courageous unison and forced the Goths to release their death grip as rulers This sudden release from tyranny exposed the Goths for their selfish scheming, profiteering and the general malfeasance of their actions. By unanimous decree, the Goth Party was ruled an unconstitutional organization for its deceptive, destructive and self-serving actions against the government of the people. A universal justice decree was issue from the Hague and declared, in a unanimous decision, that the Goths would be banned from the Empire, exported by a NASA space shuttle, to a newly identified galaxy where they would live for the remainder of their lives on the island of Katrina on the planet of Abu Ghrab. The Empire was able to recover and resume its global leadership in the development and application of science for the benefit of humanity.

41. The End… …or is it the beginning?

43. Sam Harris’ book “End of Faith” “We can no longer ignore the fact that billions of our neighbors believe in the metaphysics of martyrdom, or in the literal truth of the Book of Revelation, or any of the other fantastical notions that have lurked in the minds of the faithful for millennia—because our neighbors are now armed with chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.”

44. The Vietnam War

45. OSDR NDRC CMR National Science Foundation All Federally Funded Research Vannevar Bush Plan

46. OSDR NDRC CMR National Science Foundation All Federally Funded Research Vannevar Bush Plan

47. What went wrong? 1962 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Focused on DDT (eventually banned) Stimulated environmental awareness “Better living through chemistry” had limits Evoked a strong attack from chemical industry One chemical company tried to prevent publication of the book Kennedy requested PSAC (Presidential Advisory Committee) report on pesticides which confirmed Carson’s conclusions Science suddenly entered into a new arena…

48. From an interview with Rachel Carson before her death in 1964: "Man's attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself…[We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves."

49. And Voila, a new Republican baby was born

50. The Counter Revolution • We don’t like the message therefore let’s kill the messenger • Downgrading environmentalism • Eliminating science advisory functions • OTA (disbanded under Newt Gingrich congress in 1995) • Mainstream science is the enemy (“junk science”) • Fringe science (usually funded by industry) (“sound science”) • Because science cannot say or predict with certainty its conclusions are invalid