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Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century. By G. Pascal Zachary. New York: Free Press, 1997. ISBN 0-684-8281-9. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. vii, 518. $32.50.
In this excellent book, G. Pascal Zachary tells three distinct, but deeply interrelated, stories. First is the life story of Vannevar Bush, who as the Chief of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II, forged a vital union between American science and American military power. The second story concerns Bush's role in the foundation of the new postwar defense research and development institution, which survives to this day. The third story, which is told indirectly, shows how science advisors seek, gain, and often quickly lose influence.
Zachary's focus is primarily Bush the man. He does not explicitly claim that Bush created an institution, but he lays out the evidence clearly. Bush achieved results remarkable in scope, scale, and durability, through force of will, despite his chronic inability to contain critical judgments or control his temper. Bush exploited a critical moment in history when the relative unpreparedness of the American military establishment at the start of World War II gave him a golden opportunity to gain influence.
Bush had sought to modernize military thinking since World War I, when he first attempted, but failed, to impress his views on the military leadership. The rejection he experienced at the hands of the military services convinced Bush that they were intellectually and organizationally incapable of exploiting American scientific...