Frontiers of the Mind
New frontiers of the mind are before us, and if they are pioneered with the same vision, boldness, and drive with which we have waged this war [i.e., World War II] we can create a fuller and more fruitful employment and a fuller and more fruitful life.
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a letter to his science advisor Vannevar Bush asking for recommendations that led to the creation of the National Science Foundation, 17 November 1944; the letter is reproduced in Vannevar Bush, "Science — The Endless Frontier: A Report to the President on a Program for Postwar Scientific Research", July 1945, three months after Roosevelt's death.
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science
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on Friday, 21 October 2005 at 01.48
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I think if schools were to devote more time and attention to FDR, his times, his character, thinking, vision, wit, etc., we might have an electorate better prepared to judge potential leaders.
On the Republican side, the generation that nominated Dewey and jumped at the chance to run Eisenhower exhibited far better sense and higher standards than we see today. Bush, obviously, is the pits. And looking ahead, the prospect is for Rice, Frist, Gingrich, Allen, Santorum. In other words, we may not know even yet how low they can go.