125. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rogers to President Nixon1
SUBJECT
- Status of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
You will recall that during the latter half of 1969, McGeorge Bundy presented to key elements of your Administration, including Drs. Kissinger, DuBridge and McElroy, the concept of an International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, designed to study the problems common to industrialized societies. It would include countries of both eastern and western Europe. On October 7, 1969 you commended the proposal [Page 325] to Dr. McElroy directing that he provide for its financial and administrative support and consult with the Bureau of the Budget and proper committees of the Congress on the project.
Over the past two years Dr. Philip Handler, President of the National Academy of Sciences, which was designated the U.S. member institution of the Institute, has discussed arrangements for its establishment with representatives of other interested countries. The eight founding members will be the United States, Great Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, the USSR, Poland and East Germany. Preparatory work has been coordinated closely with this Department, the National Science Foundation, and the participating institutions of our Western allies. We have borne in mind particularly the sensitivity of the Federal Republic of Germany toward the nature of East German participation in the Institute, the autonomous, and non-governmental character of which we have sought to preserve.
The National Science Foundation has included a one million dollar item in its FY 1972 budget2 as our share of the initial funding of the Institute. The first of several conferences of founding members, which would begin a more formal process of establishment, is now expected to be held before the end of April. These two developments may well attract the attention of the press, which thus far has given the subject relatively little notice.
About a year ago, Drs. McElroy and Handler briefed key members of Congress on the Institute. It was their impression that those contacted, including those concerned with science and the National Science Foundation budget, reacted favorably, particularly when told that the Soviets had agreed to match the U.S. contribution.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 321, Subject Files, East/West Center [Feb 1969–Sept 1972]. No classification marking. Kissinger sent a copy of the memorandum to the President under an undated covering memorandum, in which he summarized Bundy’s efforts regarding the establishment of the Institute, adding that Nixon, in October 1969, had directed McElroy to “provide financial and administrative support for the Institute.” (Ibid.)↩
- On August 11, 1971, Congress approved $655.5 million for the NSF in FY 1972 in the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1972 (H.R. 7960; P.L. 92–86). For additional information, see Congress and the Nation, vol. III, 1969–1972, p. 601.↩