The stockpiling and rationing of scientific manpower

On December 16 the President declared a state of national emergency. Such a declaration, and the facts behind it, naturally influence all our present thoughts and plans. Some of us are filled with emotion and can think only in terms of immediate action. This is not good enough. Regardless of the outcome of the situation in Korea, this country now faces the necessity of planning not only for the coming months but for the coming decade and the decade after that. We may not have to fight a full-scale war. We profoundly hope that we shall not. But we know now that we must prepare to resist aggression with all our strength for the foreseeable future. We shall have to increase greatly the armed forces of this country, using our material resources and our manpower in the wisest possible way. In every aspect of civilian life the first concern of each citizen must be the long‐range value to the country of what he is doing. In the period ahead of us, no citizen can be deferred from national service in this sense.