This is the first monograph to analyze and compare the federal science policies under the most recent administrations--those of Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan. It focuses on four areas of research: basic research, defense R & D, energy R & D, and space R & D. In pursuing new goals for the federal science policy, the author states, the Reagan administration has: more sharply demarcated the roles of the federal government and the private sector, substantially curtailing support for demonstration and commercialization projects -- relied on indirect incentives to foster industrial innovation, dismantling programs of direct government intervention undertaken by the Carter administration dramatically revised priorities, allocating more than 60 percent of federal R & D support to defense and 66 percent of energy R & D support to nuclear programs. Despite these far-reaching changes, the administration has reaffirmed the importance of science to the advancement of national goals and the need for the federal government to support basic research. The concluding chapter sets forth five policy recommendations that build on areas of consensus in the three administrations and address emerging issues.