Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917–1972, Volume VIII, Public Diplomacy, 1969–1972

134. Address by Secretary of State Rogers¹

Washington, May 21, 1971

Growing Ties Between Science and Foreign Policy

I am pleased to have the honor to address you in the Smithsonian Institution in two capacities: as a Secretary of State with a keen interest in the relationship between science and foreign policy and as a member of the establishment. If any of you has ever, as I have, wondered what the precise definition of this term was, you need have no doubt about its meaning in these halls.

To the Smithsonian, the establishment consists of the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the Cabinet. For they are the legal entity which has since 1846 constituted the Smithsonian Institution under the official title of the Establishment.

May I begin by adding my most sincere congratulations to our guests of honor. They were honored this morning by the President of the United States for the distinguished contributions they have made to science in a most impressive ceremony at the White House.² Here at this luncheon I think it is entirely fitting that we underscore our great esteem for them again in this magnificent repository of our scientific and technological history.

We in the Nixon administration are highly conscious of the profound influence which science and technology have on our foreign policy. I had an opportunity to stress this point in January at the 12th meeting of the Panel on Science and Technology of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics by saying that our basic goal is to put science and technology at the service of human—and humane—ends.³

Science by its nature is universal and is insistent upon the interaction of scientists working at the frontiers of knowledge regardless of the divergencies and differences of policy which may separate the nations in which they hold citizenship. In my opinion, this has served well the cause of world peace. For the scientists have a very special capacity to establish communication and understanding which can contribute to subsequent political relationships of a constructive kind.

Thus, when the final history of U.S.-Soviet relations in the postwar era is written, the helpful role of the scientists will properly loom very large. I think it is accurate to say that the largest area of contact and relationships between Soviets and Americans is in the scientific field. I have followed with great satisfaction in the last half year or so the enlarging areas of relationships between the United States and the Soviet Union in the space field. These hold great promise of progress in the use of outer space for the benefit of all mankind. I also understand that arrangements are nearing completion under which U.S. and Soviet medical scientists will pursue cooperative research, going beyond exchanges, in the important fields of cancer, arteriosclerosis, and health effects of environmental pollutants.

One point I made in my remarks in January was that it is “the general policy of this administration to permit the exchange of unclassified scientific and technical information with the scientists and institutions of any country, regardless of the state of our diplomatic relations with that country.” This policy underlines our belief that restrictions on the free exchange of information are not compatible with the open world we seek. There was immediate speculation in the press on whether this statement included the People’s Republic of China.⁴ The answer is that it did. If the People’s Republic of China—or any other country—is interested in unclassified scientific exchanges, we are prepared to enter into appropriate arrangements with them.

The exchange of unclassified scientific and technical information on the widest possible basis would be a useful step toward the building of more cooperative relationships with mainland China. Another useful step would be the expansion of face-to-face contacts. In this there is a special role that the intellectual community, and especially scientists, can play.

We are pleased with the reports of the Chinese issuance of visas to American newsmen and to a few American scientists. We look forward to an opportunity to reciprocate. Thus far, however, we have not received any applications for visas from citizens of the People’s Republic of China.

I have been glad to learn that many American scientists and scientific organizations are issuing invitations to Chinese scientists to attend meetings and conferences in the United States. We in the Government do not offer advice on the specific invitation or the individual to be invited. However, I can assure you that, in the event these invitations are accepted and visa applications filed, I will take a personal and sympathetic interest in the speedy processing of those applications.

Another aspect of the relationship between science and foreign policy is the extent to which technology can help preserve the environment in which we live. This problem cuts across ideological and economic differences among nations. Many aspects of it can best be attacked on a global or regional basis; for example, desalting, weather modification, and pollution control. We are currently engaged in the search for ways to pool the world’s technical knowledge and to coordinate international efforts.

Preparations are now actively underway for the U.N. Conference in Stockholm next year.⁵ There the nations of the world will make a concerted attempt to identify the most pressing environmental problems and means for dealing with them. Just this week the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment met for the first time in the State Department. I appointed this Committee, with Senator Howard Baker as its Chairman, to aid us in our preparations for Stockholm. With its help, we are determined to do all we can to make the Stockholm Conference a success.

Our scientific relations with other countries are in good condition. We need now to devote increasing attention to technological relations. A number of countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe and in the developing world, are placing greater emphasis on technological relationships than on academic and scientific relationships. We are sympathetic to their needs and are responding to them where we can.

However, as you know, in our society technology lies principally in the private sector. Government has traditionally played a very limited role. Moreover, there is no equivalent in the field of technology to the International Council of Scientific Unions. There are at the moment more questions than answers available in our approach to this matter. But we are anxious to find ways of helping others to gain the technological capabilities to solve their local problems. This indeed is a major new thrust in our policy of assistance to developing countries.

A considerable measure of accomplishment in the growing interaction between technology and foreign policy was demonstrated just 2 hours ago when delegates from 73 nations voted approval of an agreement containing definitive arrangements for the worldwide commercial communications satellite system.⁶ These delegates represent partners in the Intelsat Consortium. They have been negotiating these arrangements for 27 months. Thus, in the 10 years since the first experimental communications satellite flew, a large number of nations have worked out together the political and economic relationships whereby initial development of a new space technology has become a global operating system to serve their mutual needs.

There are, of course, many other aspects to the growing ties between science and foreign policy. President Nixon said earlier this year that the problems and opportunities created by science and technology “constitute the new dimension of our foreign policy and of international life. The greatest importance attaches to our performance in this new dimension, for upon it rests much of the hope for a better future.”⁷

It is in this spirit that I address the distinguished scientists we are honoring today. The challenges within this new dimension of foreign policy call for new levels of international cooperation. We in Government, and especially those of us in the foreign affairs field, need your support. For your work, and the work of your colleagues around the world, is of the utmost importance to the achievement of the better world for which we are all striving.

1. Source: Department of State Bulletin, June 14, 1971, pp. 766–768. No classification marking. Rogers made the remarks at a Smithsonian Institution luncheon honoring the 1970 Medal of Science recipients.
2. Nixon’s remarks on presenting the National Medal of Science Awards for 1970 are printed in Public Papers: Nixon, 1971, pp. 649–651.
3. For Secretary Rogers’ address before the panel on Jan. 26, see Bulletin of Feb. 15, 1971, p. 198. [Footnote is in the original.]
4. See Richard D. Lyons, “Science Contacts With All Favored: House Group Hears Rogers—Data Sent to Peking,” New York Times, January 27, 1971, p. 6 and “Rogers Offers Peking Science Data Exchange,” Washington Post, January 27, 1971, p. A5.
5. Scheduled to take place in June 1972. For additional information, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. E–1, Documents on Global Issues, 1969–1972, Documents 309, 310, 312, 314–316, 319, 322, 324, 325, and 328. See also Congress and the Nation, vol. III, 1969–1972, p. 792.
6. See “Intelsat Moves To Cut U.S. Role,” Washington Post, May 21, 1971, p. A–8; Christopher Lyndon, “Pact to Dilute U.S. Control of Intelsat,” New York Times, May 21, 1971, p. 79; and “Nixon Hails Intelsat Shift,” New York Times, May 22, 1971, p. 3.
7. The complete text of President Nixon’s foreign policy report to the Congress on Feb. 25 appears in the Bulletin of Mar. 22, 1971. [Footnote is in the original. See footnote 2, Document 123.]