The C o r c r . . .
John I!. Steelman w HEX he signed the executive order establishing the Interdepartmental Com mittee for Scientific Research and De velopment, President Truman designated his assistant, John R. Steelman, to pro vide liaison between the President and the Interdepartmental Committee and be tween the office of the President and the nation's scientists and their learned societies. With this appointment, St/eelman assumes a position of special signifi cance to the scientists of this country for it is through him that reports on scientific progress and recommendations of scien tific importance to the national welfare will be passed to the President. This applies not only to government science but civilian science as well. In his report as chairman of the Presi dent's Scientific Research Board last summer, Steelman pointed out the need for such a committee by emphasizing the lack of a central group equipped to advise on the relationships among the numerous and complex federal scientific activities. True, there are committees to coordinate various groups of departmental scientific activities, but until now there has been no over-all advisory body. This com mittee will fill that need b y coordinating activities, reviewing administrative poli cies with the view toward increasing effi ciency, and examining practices relating to federal support of research carried on outside the Government. Not only will the committee encourage cooperation among the scientists of the various govern ment agencies, but, and this is perhaps its most important aspect according to Dr. Steelman, it will provide a means through which each department can be kept in formed as to what the others are doing. Thus gaps in existing lines of research will become more apparent, new avenues of approach will be suggested, duplication avoided. Speaking of duplication, Dr. Steelman (yes, he is a Ph.D.) told us t h a t in his investigation of government research last year he did not find as much duplica tion as he had expected. He recognizes, however, that some duplication, properly coordinated, may be quite fruitful. The establishment of the Interdepart mental Committee constitutes official recognition of the fact that the Govern ment is in the business of scientific re search in a big way. And, says Dr. Steel man, the Government will always play an important role in research, but just how big this role will be will depend on science legislation. His theory is that Govern ment should encourage research on a broad mafeion-wide front, not just inside the governmental agencies. 244
Likewise, the committee will recognize all aspects of science, social as well as physical and natural, so that scientific research on all segments of life and human endeavor will be included within its sur vey. In the field of scientific research and development, the budget anticipated an expenditure in the fiscal year 1948 of about $884 million. For the fiscal year 1949, an expenditure of approximately $950 million is proposed. T\ve Executive Order The executive order establishing the Interdepartmental Committee names the agencies to be represented and outlines the committee's duties as follows: 1. There is hereby established the Interdepartmental Committee on Scien tific Research and Development, herein after referred to as the Committee. The head of each of the following agencies and of such other agencies as the President may hereafter determine (and in the case of a commission, board, or committee, the chairman thereof) shall designate an officer or employee of his agency as a member of the Committee, namely, the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Commerce, Army, Navy, and Air Force, the National Military Establishment, the Federal Security Agency, the Atomic En ergy Commission, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Veterans Administration, and the Smithsonian In stitution. 2. The Chairman of the Committee shall be designated annually by the President. The Chairman may from time to time establish subcommittees, which may in clude as members persons not employed by the Federal Government, or for limited periods of time representatives of agencies not designated as members of the Committee, which shall conduct and re port upon specific studies as directed by the Committee. 3. The duties of the Committee shall be to: (a) Recommend steps to make the re search and development programs of the Federal Government most effective in the promotion of the national welfare. (b) Study or propose studies and recommend changes in administrative policies and procedures," including per sonnel policies, designed to increase the efficiency of the Federal research and de velopment program. (c) Study and report upon current policies and Federal administrative prac tices relating to Federal support for re search, such as grants and contracts for basic research. (d) Obtain the advice of persons not employed by the Federal Government with respect to matters of concern to the Committee. (e) Encourage collaboration among Federal agencies engaged in related scien tific research and development. (f) Propose means by which informa tion relating to the status and results of scientific research and development under taken or supported by Federal agencies can be most effectively disseminated. C H E M I C A L
(g) Perform such other duties as shall be prescribed from time to time b y the President. 4. The reports and recommendations of the Committee shall be submitted to the several departments and agencies or to the President as may be appropriate. δ. Federal agencies, to the extent per mitted by law, are requested to furnish the Committee assistance and such infor mation relating to their affairs as it may require. While Steelman will function in a liaison capacity between the committee and the President, he will not be active head of the committee ; a chairman is to be designated for this purpose. And while Steelman may be available to assist the committee in its more difficult problems or on questions relating to Government policy, the chair man will be encouraged to assume the bulk of this responsibility. Dr. Steelman acknowledges t h a t his functions in con nection with this committee may even tually make it necessary for him to acquire a scientific assistant to whom most of this work can be delegated. In his capacity as Assistant to the President, Steelman is a t one time or another called upon to work with all of the hundred-odd executive departments and agencies of the Government as well as various commissions, committees, and congressional bodies. B u t he has always been known as an indefatigable worker. As director of the U. S. Conciliation Service, he had the reputation of keeping his office lights ablaze long after most of official Washington had closed for the night. Our cover artist, sketching him in his office at the White House as Dr. Steelman discussed the Interdepartmental Com mittee, found him difficult to portray because no single impression could convey the feeling of constant activity lent by his bounding vitality; his features seem never at rest. As columnist Peter Edson puts it, "Words pour out of his mouth in tor rents; he juts out his chin, pouts his lips, and squints his eyes to emphasize every word he speaks. He never says anything quietly or without a great deal of positiveness. ,, Taught Sociology and Economics John Roy Steelman was born on an Arkansas farm in 1900. After serving as a corporal in the Army during the closing months of World War I, he worked his way through Henderson Brown Col lege, from which he was graduated in 1922. During the next three years he earned the A.M. (1924) and Ph.B. (1925) degrees at Vanderbilt and did graduate work a t Har vard. He then went to the University of North Carolina where he received the Ph.D. in sociology and economics in 1928. From 1928 to 1934 he was professor at Alabama College, Montevallo, Ala., from whence Frances Perkins, then Secretary of {Continued on page 287) AND
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{Continued from page 244]
Labor, invited him to become a commis sioner with the Conciliation Service, U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of Labor. As a commissioner a n d later as Director of Conciliation (1934-^4) Dr. Steelman constantly impressed people with whom h e came in contact in settling labor disputes t h a t " I t ' s j u s t smart to get along t o gether." D u r i n g this period h e super vised in t h e settlement of 80,000 labor disputes, m a n y of which never reached t h e public eye. Following his resignation from t h e C o n ciliation Service in 1944, h e entered p r i v a t e practice as a public relations con sultant in New York, b u t in less than a year President T r u m a n recalled h i m to t h e Government a s special assistant to t h e President in charge of labor m a t t e r s . I n 1946 he succeeded J o h n W. Snyder a s reconversion director a n d was later a p pointed Director of Economic Stabilization, succeeding Chester Bowles. After recom mending t h a t these offices be discontinued a t t h e end of 1946, he was a p p o i n t e d Assistant t o t h e President with general duties of coordination a n d liaison. He is t h e first to hold this title.
O T S Reports Copies of the following reports can b e obtained at the prices indicated from t h e Office of Technical Services, Department of Commerce, Washington 25, D. C. Orders should be accompanied by check or money order, payable to the Treasurer of t h e United States. T h e development a n d manufacture of Desmodur R, a German adhesive claimed t o be excellent for bonding rubber t o metal and rubber to tire cord, a n d d a t a o n t h e chemistry of isocyanates, are d e V O L U M E
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I N D U S T R I A L RESEARCH ON C O N T R A C T BASIS A n o r g a n i z a t i o n s m a l l e n o u g h t o give y o u r p r o b l e m s m e t i c u l o u s personal a t t e n t i o n , y e t staffed a n d e q u i p p e d for large a s s o r t m e n t s . BJORKSTEN RESEARCH L A B O R A T O R I E S 185 N . Wabash Ave. Chicago 1 , III.
scribed in eight reports. T h e Desmodurs are formed b y reacting diisocyanates and polyisocyanates with polyhydroxy com pounds. I n general, di-compounds form linear polyurethanes while tri- a n d higher compounds form cross-linked products, making it possible t o produce an infinite variety of properties by suitably varying constituents. PB-1336, s t u d y of new adhesives, (mimeographed, 50 c e n t s ; 13 pages) discusses t h e properties of Desmo dur R . PB-19S5S, manufacturing process for Desmodur R (mimeographed 25 cents; 8 pages) describes t h e production of this adhesive. PB-27521 (mimeographed, 25 cents; 9 pages) reports on German production practices in using D e s m o d u r R as a bonderizing agent between tire cord fabrics and their rubber coatings. PB-28835 (mimeographed, 50 cents; 86 pages) is primarily a discussion of Ger man synthetic tire production. PB-192 (mimeographed, 75 c e n t s ; 117 pages) is concerned mainly with a dis cussion of production processes employed by t h e Phoenix firm in making tires and tubes, conveyor belts, hose, shoes, surgicals, and other rubber items. Three reports discussing development of Desmodurs are: PB-45246 (mimeo graphed, 25 cents; S pages) relating infor mation on t h e chemistry of isocyanates and particularly t h e new polyisocyanates and their derivatives which h a v e been intensively studied in Germany for some years. PB-60908 (mimeographed, 25 cents; 4 pages). A few notes are given on t h e manufacture of Desmodur Τ by t h e phosgenation of tolylene diamine hydrochloride, the conversion of Desmodur Τ to Desmo dur T H by a trihydroxy alcohol, the Desmodur-Desmophen reaction, a n d t h e mold ing powders m a d e from diisocyanate products. PB-185 (mimeographed, 25 c e n t s ; 11 pages) gives information on isocyanate polymers produced b y the Elberfeld and Leverkusen plants.
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