The Office of Technical Services

An emphasis on developing technology for use in World War II produced a body of German and American scientific knowledge that some U S policymakers believed could stimulate America's postwar economy New Dealers, in particular, believed that the government should organize, evaluate, and declassify this body of knowledge and facilitate its transfer to American industry, especially to small businesses that had limited resources for research and development The debate to create a government agency that was to have, as its primary mission, the communica tion of scientific and technical information to the general public was, however, also shaped by cold war politics and this circumstance had significant impact on the later role of that agency.