Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush

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Digitized materials in this online collection form part of the Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush (MC-0143) in the MIT Libraries Department of Distinctive Collections. For more information about the materials, please consult the collection finding aid.

Collection scope and contents:
In 1964 Eric Hodgins interviewed Bush in preparation for Bush's autobiography, PIECES OF THE ACTION (1970). In the 1120-page interview transcript, Bush discussed his family and education at Tufts University; early years at MIT as a member of the Department of Electrical Engineering, his research and patents, including the development of the differential analyzer, and his roles as executive vice president and dean of the School of Engineering; his decision to become president of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. in 1939; his role in the war effort as chair of the NDRC and later OSRD; and his thoughts on post-war science issues, including cooperation between government and universities for research, and the many government agencies and committees in the federal government involved in making science policy.

Dates:
1964

Please note:
Materials in this collection may be under copyright. Please consult the collection finding aid or catalog record and the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for more information.

Citation:
Please cite the source item title (dc.title), collection title and identifier, and repository.

Example: Transcript pages 73 through 150 (reel #2): CIW - McKay Trust - MIT - Boston - NDRC Beginnings - Cryptanalysis - Fission - Simplicity of Great Men - Qualities of Executives - Congressional Testimony. Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush (MC-0143). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections.

Repository details:
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections

Recent Submissions

Transcript pages 773 through 827 (reel #13): Bush's Early European Trips - Rutherford - Antisub Devices-WW I - British Attitudes toward Engineers - AMRAD Reunion - A-Bomb - Plan for the Invasion of Japan - Joint Chiefs of Staff - Relations between Scientists & the Military - The Military Mind: The Reactionaries and the Over-Optimistic - US Space Program.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 744 through 772 (reel #12): Antisubmarine Warfare - Incidents on the Clyde - Stimson's Interest in Development - Newton Richards - Primary Rules for Management.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 690 through 743 (reel #11): WW II - AEC Luncheon - Differential Analyzer - Congressional Testimony - Radar: Its Origins - National Science Foundation - (Nelson) Rockefeller Board to Study Reorganization of the Defense Department - Henry L. Stimson - Herbert Hoover - Tizard Mission - General Motors and the DUKY - Post WW II.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 614 through 686A (reel #10): Bush Puts Foot Down about Administrative Problems at MIT - Bush On CIW Administration, Mount Wilson - First Congressional Appearance - Bush's Father and Uncle Walter - Backtrack, Bush's Stanley Steamer - Alfred Loomis - On The Art of Teaching (Fundamentals) - Handling Faculty - Hawthorne Study - Engineer's Involvement with Poverty - Claude Shannon - Unconventional Warfare.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 553 through 613A (reel #9): MacDowell - AMRAD-Raytheon-Spencer, Bush as Consultant - Anti-submarine Devices - Inventors, Promoters and Managers - Bush's Doctoral Thesis - Digital and Analogue Machines (People Too Wedded to Digital Machines) - Ike at Columbia - Assigning Patents - Bush's Profile-drawing Machine - Suppressing Patents - WW II Patent Problems with G.E. - Selling Spencer Thermostat to Westinghouse - Russell Burnell - Perry Spencer.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 472 through 552 (reel #8): Comments on Bradley, Montgomery, Halsey, MacArthur, Mountbatten, Bohr, Urey, von Neumann, Byrnes, Ickes, Wallace, Acheson, Vinson - Stanley Steamer - Beginnings of National Institutes of Health - Merck, Sharpe & Dohme - Averting Fossilization in One's Career - Forces Affecting Discovery - Boss Kett-Edison - Common Sense Important for the Young Engineers - Scientist and Humanist.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 412 through 471A (reel #7): A-Bomb - Alamogordo - Cherwell-Churchill Relationship - Anglo-American Atomic Information Exchange - Proximity Fuze - DUKW - American vs. British Wartime Research Organizations – Truman.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 346 through 411 (reel #6): Medical Research - Guidance Systems - Moon Shot - Bush's Opinions of People - Origins of NDRC and OSRD - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty - Committee on Medical Research – DUKW.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 275 through 345 (reel #5): Clearance - Education In US: Grants: Humanities vs. Science - - Abuses of Patents - NSF - Truman - Orville Wright - Engines - Biology - Scientists vs. Engineers - Professional Managers.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 194B through 274 (reel #4): Basic and Applied Science - Congressional Testimony Comparing House & Senate - Expert Witnesses and Advisers - NAS, NRC, NSF, NACA, NASA - Automation & Employment - Government Research - Inventions - Centralized Government - Supreme Court - Population Explosion - Balance of Nature and Insecticides - Differential Analyzer (History) - Secrecy.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 150A through 194A (reel #3): Congressional Testimony - Management of Executives - Wartime Patents - Missiles, Rockets, V-1, V-2 - Proximity Fuze - Eisenhower, Marshall and New Weapons - Archery - Forrestal - Bush's Health at End of War - NBC White Paper - Merle Tuve - Proximity Fuze vs. Timed Fire Over Land.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 73 through 150 (reel #2): CIW - McKay Trust - MIT - Boston - NDRC Beginnings - Cryptanalysis - Fission - Simplicity of Great Men - Qualities of Executives - Congressional Testimony.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Transcript pages 1 through 72A (reel #1): Early History - Tufts - G.E. - US Naval Inspector - MIT - D. C. Jackson - Kennelly - Stratton - Karl Compton - Differential Analyzer - Executive Ability - Congressional Testimony - Patents – NACA.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971
Index and questions

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974; Hodgins, Eric, 1899-1971