THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK. NY 10021

March 5, 1985

 

JOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Mr. Craig Fuller

Office of the Vice President
Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20501

Dear Mr. Fuller:

I was glad to get a response -- which you may well have
had a hand in -- from Mr. Reagan, to the conversation we had
at the White House luncheon on February 12th. I understand
that you are now on Mr. Bush's staff and may for the time
being have less connection with the issues raised in our dis-
cussion in the letter. Nevertheless I would like to think
that the door was not slammed on further policy-oriented dis-
cussion on the very important issues that were touched upon
there.

There were many constructive elements in the President's
reply. Nevertheless many of my colleagues are as exasperated
by the process in the Executive Branch that led to this out-
come, aS you may well have been at what was happening on the
legislative side. Meanwhile many of us feel like we are being
battered between pillar and post. So I will welcome the op-
portunity for some further calm dialogue.

Of course there is a very important virtue in stability;
and I have long argued that the quality of administration of
research grants from the government needed as much attention
as the volume of funds from the spigot. The grants awarded
each year are a less pertinent figure than the total number
of programs supported at a given time; and we (above all the
national interest) would benefit by somewhat less turbulence
in the overall process.

When all is said and done, however, it does look as if by:
some fluke biomedical research has been put down relative to
the overall attention given to national investment in science
and technology. (And this at a time when the promise for near
term yield has never been brighter.)
Mr. Craig Fuller
March 5, 1985

-2-

However the purpose of this letter is not to rake over
the substance but to enhance the process ;and it is in that -
vein that I approach you now.

I did meet Mr. Bush and Dan Murphy when they were at CIA,
and acquired a real respect for both of them in that setting.

Yours Sincerely,

osghua Lederberg /