ABSTRACT
A gentle man, efficient administrator, and an advocate powerfully devoted to minority causes, Slaughter further organized the applied sciences and established an engineering directorate. National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) has felt the blasts of social and political winds during all 33 years of its life. For social science, harsh cuts threatened a drift toward disaster, a drift only slowed by the development of a unified political response which included the somewhat unsavory idea that priorities must be addressed. Ten months and a few days ticked away in 1980 before the presidential contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan was resolved. It was a time that stirred speculation about what might be wrought with a possible change in the White House. Uncertainty was intensified by the coincidence of a turnover of leadership at the top in NSF. In 1980, as at all earlier points, any contemplation of major change had to confront a context of political perceptions.
