Don K. Price

The Scientific Establishment The American system gives scientists in government a freedom and influence unmatched in other countries

In the dimensions of its financial support and in the breadth of its influence, science has indeed become a national Establishment. Politicians are more likely to abuse it by calling on it to advance their special causes than they are to ignore it. In this predicament, scientists cannot protect their essential interests in government by setting themselves apart in a separate status or separate department. They used to be content with the control of particular bureaus or programs. Today, in the White House Office or the lobbies of the Capitol, they are obliged, by the nature of the system they helped create, to play a responsible role in all aspects of national policy, and in the development of a new pattern of relationships between public and private institutions in our society.