Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century by G. Pascal Zachary

G. Pascal Zachary is the author of the book. He "researches and writes about the past, present and future of technological change".

The book is about Vannevar Bush(no relation to President Bush).

Vannevar Bush(1890-1974) was an American engineer and administrator. Among other inventions, he developed the Differential Analyzer - a mechanical analog computer with some digital components.

As an administrator, he is known for organizing and overseeing mobilization of scientific research and its co-ordination with branches of military during World War II.

He was the first Chairman of the National Defense Research Committee(NDRC), which later became the Office of Scientific Research and Development(OSRD). His efforts there led to development of radars used by USAF, as well as radar controlled fuze in anti-aircraft shells so only 1/7th as many anti-aircraft shells were needed.

This book is about Vannevar Bush's role in organizing and overseeing mobilization of scientific research and its co-ordination with branches of military during World War II.

Asleep at the wheel

"Despite the widening war, [Vannevar]Bush was struck by the widespread view that the U.S. could stay out of it. 'I have as yet to find any individual who is not wholeheartedly convinced that we ought to keep out of the war'".

"I can remember the thirties when Hitler built his plan and we were sound asleep".

"[Vannevar]Bush called upon military men at every level and talked openly and easily with academics and industrialists about collaborations with the Army and Navy. He was dismayed by the absence of a single authority to direct these various actors. The military, meanwhile, was too disorganized even to evaluate its own needs".

Safi Bahcall writes in his book 'Loonshots': "Despite the growing threat from fascism in Europe and Asia, the armed services in 1936 cut funds for research on new technologies to one-twentieth the cost of one battleship".

Fighting the last war

"In the spring of 1939, Bush concentrated on a narrow but fundamental issue, one whose solution would require much coordination among the military, science and industry. This was defense against air attack".

"Air power, Bush believed, defined military strength".

"Radar promised to revolutionize warfare by providing a way to track the enemy's moves and to achieve greater accuracy in striking targets.

Yet the Army seemed indifferent to radar’s potential. The Navy had sponsored radar research for nearly two decades and had built useful detection devices. But its researchers were starved for funds and lacked champions among the admiralty.

Congress, meanwhile, took no special interest in radar, and Bush doubted legislators could be persuaded to change. 'Having watched the way Congress has handled somewhat similar matters recently', he wrote [President]Hoover, 'I am pessimistic as to what can be accomplished in that direction'".

"Leery of a public campaign, Bush planned to privately press the case for radar".

"The two services often pursued contradictory paths to the same technical end; neither shared information nor coordinated spending".

"Said one former naval secretary, 'Old customs and old practices hang on longer in the Navy than anywhere else'".

"the Army will 'probably resent or disregard a civilian scientist's' views".

"But war had changed and so had the elements of a nation’s security. The future of the U.S. now depended on an unprecedented show of civilian interest in the machinery of war.

Neither military tradition nor political ignorance should rob the country of the chance to apply every bit of American know-how to war".

Democracy and its inefficiencies

"He thought the U.S. might have to alter its political system, probably by bringing the government, the military and the private sector closer together in order to match the efficiencies of the Nazis.

Bush saw only benefits to this type of cooperation. 'The totalitarian state can cut rings around the democracy, and ineffectiveness is the price of freedom. The present question is whether the price can successfully be paid'".

Bush was also worried that "too many of his fellow citizens 'want to turn the country into a wishy-washy imitation of totalitarianism'. He was especially concerned about attacks on big business". This is still a major issue of our times where people today want to adopt some elements of totalitarianism e.g. cancel culture, but don't have the political power or daring or means to go full-on Nazi or Soviet level of totalitarianism... yet.

Organization structure is the key

"Bush was irreconcilably convinced that the only way in which any organization or group can work together satisfactorily is through a centralization of authority and control".

"He felt structure should triumph over the vagaries of personality, spot judgments and crises, even though in his own life he usually viewed organizational structure as an impediment to inspiration. As 1940 began, he wrestled with the proper structure to coordinate disparate civil and military research".

"The most important matter, however, remains to provide the liaison between all of this [research] work and the government development[production, implementation]".

When recruiting engineers and scientists to work for him, he would look for and offer "Money, pride, patriotism: Bush knew the way to a researcher’s heart".

Focus, and prioritize

Meeting the President

"On June 12 [1940], at about 4:30 P.M., Bush—a high-spirited thoroughbred and no doubt a prima donna—met [President]Roosevelt for the first time.

Joined by Hopkins, he greeted the president, then pulled out a single sheet of paper that contained a crisp description of his plan for mobilizing military technology. Under the title, 'National Defense Research Committee', the document listed six items:"
"Bush steeled himself to answer tough questions from the president, but [President]Roosevelt had already made up his mind. After a few casual comments, he wrote 'O.K.—FDR' on the single sheet of paper. Bush was elated. He had his coveted endorsement. And it had come in less than 15 minutes".

The proposal above from Bush is regarded as a crisp description of what to do. In 1-2 sentences, it describes:

Success

One of the outcome of these efforts was a powerful radar that was small, could be fitted to a plane, and could track periscopes of submerged submarines even in bad weather and at night.

It found use tracking U-boat submarines that attacked ships carrying supplies from USA to England in North Atlantic during WW2.

Time magazine in its cover story on Vannevar Bush in 1944 called him "General Physics" and reported his success: "When the chips were down, U.S. scientists won. In the last ten days of March, 1943, U-boat ship sinkings dramatically dropped two-thirds. They have continued to decline ever since. At 1943's end,

Adolf Hitler publicly acknowledged that "one single technical invention of our enemies" had checked his U-boats".

"That was not quite correct; no one device but a combination of new techniques and tactics was responsible. But his unwilling tribute was much appreciated by the anonymous army of U.S. scientists who are fighting a deadly, technological war".

President FDR also acknowledged this in a letter on November 17, 1944 to Vannevar Bush as Director of Office of Scientific Research and Development. President FDR wrote:

After the war(WW2)

"No one knew when a new world war might come. But if it did—no, when it did—the old soldiers dining in the Carlton Hotel knew they must have more than God and Capitalism on their side. They must have Technology, too".

"Make no mistake: the outcome of war was now decided, as much as anything, by a nation’s scientific and engineering wizards. This was the lesson of World War II".

"Barely five years before, in the hectic weeks following Pearl Harbor, the military virtually ignored technology and took for granted that the weapons of the last war would determine the victors of the new one. Officers treated scientists and engineers as mere hired hands or, worse, useless dreamers.

But after the success of radar, the proximity fuze and—most dramatically—the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the military gave star treatment to its researchers".

Time magazine in Apr 3, 1944 put Vannevar Bush on the cover and called him "General Physics".

Collier's magazine in 1942 called him: "Meet the man who may win or lose the war".

Encyclopedia Britannica refers to him as "Architect of the military-industrial complex".

Wired magazine in 1997 covered his other achievements as well and called him "The Godfather".

He also founded the company which became Raytheon/RTX - one of the largest military contractor in the world. It was also the start of the military-industrial complex.

The lesson here in Vannevar Bush's own words is:



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