ABSTRACT
Science policy and technology policy are separate and distinct. In most periods of American history, the distinction has remained implicit. Science policy has taken place in a very different arena. The government has always faced problems which are not definable in terms of the play of economics and politics and has regularly turned to scientists and scientific institutions not only for answers but for the very formulation of the problems themselves. Many talented scientist-administrators shaped implicit policies for science within the government in the 19th century. Only with the Great Depression and World War II did science emerge as a separate area of concern worthy of the attention of a President. The period 1957-73 saw the creation of a science advisory complex which on the surface was mainly concerned with emergency advice on military matters, especially in the wake of Sputnik. The possibility of such an event was more conceivable to a naive historian than to a practical administrator such as Don Price.
