MIA > Archive > Draper > Militarization
From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 6, 6 February 1950, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
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This is one of a series of articles on the militarization of American government and life, based on the findings of a committee of nationally known liberals. This committee, organized as the National Council Against Conscription, in February of last year published the booklet New Evidence of the Militarization of America. All the information and quotations used in the present series of articles comes from this booklet. |
A statement attributed to Major General Maxwell D. Taylor that the army intended “to put the best heads of America in the brass hats of tomorrow” [This Week, April 4, 1948] sums up one purpose of the military in their work in educational institutions.
This effort to capture the best minds of the nation for military purposes is being aided by large military appropriations. No similar appropriations are aimed at helping the best minds go into needed civilian service in the realm of career diplomacy, medicine and teaching, for example.
Aside from indicating the value we place on a profession whose aim is to destroy, as compared with those whose aim is to create and heal, this emphasis contributes to the militarization of the educational leaders of America.
Part of the military program in colleges and universities is aimed at faculty and student scientists. The Office of Naval Research spent approximately $20,000,000 on about 500 projects at colleges and universities during the year 1948–49. These projects are carried on in more than 150 educational institutions by roughly 2,400 graduate students and 2,000 scientists.
“This program has enabled the navy to retain the interest of scientists in the navy” a naval spokesman said in explaining the program to a congressional committee. He added that this navy program “has pioneered in tho establishment of cordial relationships between scientists and the federal government.” [House subcommittee hearings on navy appropriations bill, 1949.]
The navy research program in colleges is so varied that it includes not only research which will contribute to the development of weapons, but also a study in “chewing.” This research conducted in cooperation with the Tufts College Dental School seeks to discover answers to such questions as how much biting pressure on food a person with false teeth can exercise.
The implications of this program cannot be fully understood without realizing how much of each university’s scientific life is controlled financially by the navy. While specific details are not available in each case, it is known that in some the military control is virtually complete.
The September 1948 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, for example, reports a discussion with the head of the mechanical engineering department of a large university in which it was revealed that “approximately 99 per cent of the funds currently being spent on research are supplied by the navy.” This navy money, according to the same account, necessitated “navy clearance ... of all university employees who participate in the spending of this money.” In other words, the military is beginning to tell colleges whom they may or may not employ.
A questionnaire sent by a committee of atomic scientists to the directors of 140 research, laboratories throughout the United States in November 1947 sheds light on the percentage of military funds in the universities’ science budgets.
“Replies ... were received from 26 university laboratories, representing the fields of physics, chemistry, and biological sciences in the country s larger universities. Of these 23, or 88 percent, do part of their research under contract with the federal government. mostly army and navy, and eleven derive over half their research funds in this manner.” – [Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, April 1948]
The army has made a contract with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for the establishment of a general research office to develop guided missile rockets and other new weapons. The research office will also control subcontracting to other universities in the nation. The president of John Hopkins has also been made chairman of a special committee within the National Military Establishment, further solidifying relationships with that university as a liaison with universities in general.
No breakdown has been published of the army’s appropriations to educational institutions, though in preceding years it has greatly exceeded the amount spent by the navy. For example, in 1947 out of an army research budget of about $280,000,000 “about $70,000,000 was earmarked for fundamental studies at universities.” – [Business Week, Sept. 14, 1946]
In addition to its research in colleges, the army “is preparing to create an elite corps of officer scientists.” Plans call for the army “to pick annually fifty top rank scientists and engineers from the nation’s foremost technical schools, commission them after two years with troops, and send them to technical schools for further training.” – [AP Dispatch from Phila., April 24, 1948]
Scientists who teach in colleges are encouraged to think favorably of the army as a result of military awards and consequent newspaper publicity given to them. At a series of ceremonies in September, October, and November 1948, sponsored by the army, military citations were presented to top army and navy men to scientists from New York University, Cornell. Princeton, Yale, Wesleyan, University of Connecticut, Ohio State University, and other educational institutions.
As a result of the military influence in the science departments of our educational institutions there are a number of by-products:
Last updated on 9 March 2023