ABSTRACT
Samuel Stouffer was a sociological practitioner engrossed in the mission of making sociology a science, and a patriot with an unabashed love for his country. In his enthusiasm for social research he would often become so caught up hovering over the "machine" in anticipation of the results of yet another run that he would miss appointments, forget dinner with his wife, and neglect the subtleties of personal appearance. Throughout his career Stouffer regularly put his patriotism into practice by offering his sociological services to the military and working with the government. Following the end of the war, the Carnegie Corporation gave Stouffer a grant to publish a summary of the Research Branch's findings under the title of his now classic study, The American Soldier. While Stouffer was not unaware of the potential pitfalls of applied research, he clearly felt the benefits were much more significant than the risks.
