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{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
The '''President's Science Advisory Committee''' ('''PSAC''') was created on November 21, 1957, by President of the United States [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], as a direct response to the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] launching of the [[Sputnik 1]] and [[Sputnik 2]] satellites. PSAC was an upgrade and move to the White House of the Science Advisory Committee (SAC) established in 1951 by President [[Harry S. Truman]], as part of the [[Office of Defense Mobilization]] (ODM). Its purpose was to advise the president on scientific matters in general, and those related to defense issues in particular. Eisenhower appointed [[James R. Killian]] as PSAC's first director.

In 1961, President [[John F. Kennedy]] renamed the agency the '''Office of Science and Technology''' ('''OST'''). This lasted until [[Richard Nixon]]'s administration in 1973. In 1976 the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] was established.

==First report==
The first report of the newly formed Science Advisory Committee, commonly known as the Killian Report (February 14, 1955, officially "Meeting the Threat of Surprise Attack"),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gerson |first=Michael S. |author-link= |editor-last=Elbridge A. Colby, Michael S. Gerson |editor-first= |encyclopedia=Strategic stability: contending interpretations |title=The origins of strategic stability: the United States and the threat of surprise attack |trans-title= |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep12086.4.pdf |access-date= |language= |edition= |year=2013 |publisher=Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press |series= |volume= |location= |id= |isbn=978-1-58487-562-8 |issn= |oclc=1225683283  |doi= |pages=1–46 |jstor=resrep12086.4 |quote= }}</ref> suggested that any defense in the nuclear age was pointless, and outlined scenarios in which up to 90% of the US population would die in an all-out exchange. It suggested the only defense was deterrence, and set in motion the policies that would later be known as [[mutually assured destruction]]. It also suggested that the lag in US missile technology was a systemic problem in the education system, which led to widespread reform in the public school system.

== Committee members ==
The President's Science Advisory Committee included many noteworthy scientists and non-scientists, including:

*[[Oliver E. Buckley]] (Chairman 1951–1952)
*[[Lee Alvin DuBridge]] (Chairman 1952–1956)
*[[Isadore I. Rabi]] (Chairman 1956–1957)
*[[James Rhyne Killian|James R. Killian]] (Chairman 1957–1959)
*[[George Kistiakowsky]] (Chairman 1959–1961)
*[[Jerome Wiesner]] (Chairman 1961–1964)
*[[Donald F. Hornig]] (Chairman 1964–1969)
* Lee A. DuBridge (Chairman 1969–1970)
*[[Edward E. David Jr.]] (Chairman 1970–1973)
*[[Lloyd Berkner]]
*[[Hans Bethe]]
* [[Lewis M. Branscomb|Lewis Branscomb]]
* [[Melvin Calvin]]
*[[Britton Chance]]
*[[Thomas Gold]]
*[[Philip Handler]]
*[[Franklin A. Long|Franklin Long]]
*[[Gordon J.F. MacDonald]]
*[[William D. McElroy|William McElroy]]
*[[George Pake]]
*[[Frank Press]]
*[[Edward Mills Purcell|Edward Purcell]]
*[[Frederick Seitz]]
*[[Charles Pence Slichter|Charles P. Slichter]]
*[[Alvin M. Weinberg|Alvin Martin Weinberg]]
*[[Benjamin Willis (educator)|Benjamin Willis]] 1962–1966<ref name="Ohles">{{cite book |last1=Ohles |first1=Frederik |last2=Ohles |first2=Shirley G. |last3=Ohles |first3=Shirley M. |last4=Ramsay |first4=John G. |title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators |date=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-29133-3 |page=333 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBj5-zHEMvoC |access-date=27 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Herbert York]]<ref name="pollution">{{cite book|url=http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab/Caldeira%20downloads/PSAC,%201965,%20Restoring%20the%20Quality%20of%20Our%20Environment.pdf|title=Restoring the Quality of our Environment: Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel, President's Science Advisory Committee|date=November 1965|publisher=[[The White House]]}}</ref>

== PSAC's activities ==
The committee had no operating responsibilities. Its purpose was to provide advisory opinions and analysis on science and technology matters to the entire [[Federal Government of the United States|Federal Government]] and specifically to the [[President of the United States|President]]. About one-half of the panels' studies were directed to the question of how science could support the [[United States]]' [[national security]] objectives. The creation of [[Arms Limitations and Control Panel|Arms Limitations and Control]], [[Limited Warfare Panel|Limited Warfare]], and [[Space Science Panel|Space Science]] Panels, for example, reflected the national security concerns of the committee. Two important themes common to many of the studies are the budgetary problems of funding projects, and the administration's concern over competing successfully with the [[Soviet Union]] in science and technology.

In 1965, the PSAC environmental pollution panel issued a major report outlining water, air, and [[soil pollution]], from sewage and lead pollution to [[atmospheric carbon dioxide]].<ref name="pollution" />

During the administration of President [[John F. Kennedy]], the PSAC advised against pursuing a human Moon landing due to cost. Kennedy rejected the committee's recommendation and aggressively pursued the goal of putting an American on the Moon before the end of the decade.<ref name=PTNov2016>{{cite news |title=What it takes to be a presidential science adviser |first=Melinda |last=Baldwin |date=November 26, 2016 |journal=Physics Today|doi=10.1063/PT.5.3042 }}</ref>

== The end of the PSAC ==
In 1973, shortly after winning re-election in a landslide, President [[Richard Nixon]], eliminated the committee. Nixon was frustrated with what he saw as a lack of support from the committee for his administration's agenda, including a member of the committee that spoke publicly against his administration's support for research into [[supersonic transport]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wang|first1=Zuoyue|title=In Sputnik's Shadow: The President's Science Advisory Committee and Cold War America|date=2008|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|isbn=978-0813546889}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Golden|editor-first1=William T.|title=Science and Technology Advice to the President, Congress and Judiciary|date=1994|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=Piscataway, NJ|isbn=978-1560008293}}</ref><ref name=SMJan2009>{{cite news |title=Bending the president's ear |first=Eli |last=Kintisch |date=January 2, 2009 |work=Science Magazine |volume=323 |issue=5910 |pages=28–29 |doi=10.1126/science.323.5910.28 |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.323.5910.28?rss=1}}</ref> The [[Office of Science and Technology Policy|White House Office of Science and Technology]] and the [[United States Congress]] were made to rely on federal agencies for guidance in scientific policy.  A similar entity, the United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology ([[PCAST]]), was established in 1990 by President [[George H. W. Bush]],<ref>{{cite web |title= Executive Order 12700 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12700 |website=Wikisource |access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref> and renewed by three subsequent presidents.<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 12882 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12882 |website=Wikisource |access-date=2 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 13226 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13226 |website=Wikisource |access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 13539 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13539 |website=Wikisource |access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[JASON (advisory group)]]
* [[Technology policy]]

== External links ==
*[https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/finding-aids/us-presidents-science-advisory-committee U.S. President's Science Advisory Committee Records, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]
*[http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/ Diary of George B. Kistiakowsky, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library]
*[https://webofstories.com/play/hans.bethe/101;jsessionid=9638330591CB6B4464B8E413C8CD474E Hans Bethe talking about his time on the President's Science Advisory Committee] on webofstories.com.
* [https://history.aip.org/phn/21612015.html United States. President’s Science Advisory Committee (1957 – 1973)], ''history.aip.org''
*[https://kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma/collection/p/xp30-001?searchterms=President%27s+Science+Advisory+Committee The Papers of the President's Science Advisory Committee, 1957–1961]

== References ==
<references />

{{Harry S. Truman}}

[[Category:Executive Office of the President of the United States]]
[[Category:United States national commissions]]