ABSTRACT
Policy makers are only beginning to realize the extent to which the Cold War provided an over-arching rationale for national government activities, both small and large. The need for a modern national highway system was met through the passage of the National Defense Highways Act, secondary and higher education gained impetus from Sputnik, and even the National Endowment for the Arts was established to meet a 1960s Soviet cultural offensive head-on. The sputtering out of the Cold War provided an opportunity to establish a much-needed offensive on the home front—a new national mission to generate sustainable economic growth and tangibly improve the quality of life for citizens and workers. The conversion of the Cold War economy provides a framework within which science and technology policy, industrial policy, and public investment choices can be redesigned to meet fundamental national needs.
