[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S4912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DISCUSSING PRESSING ISSUES FACING THE NATION

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on April 27-29, more than 800 of the 
foremost scientists, humanists and leaders in business and public 
affairs will gather here in Washington when the Nation's two oldest 
learned societies--the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 
American Philosophical Society--meet jointly for the first time.
  Both organizations predate the birth of the Nation, and among their 
founders were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Bowdoin, and John 
Hancock.
  The two organizations were established to help advance ``useful 
knowledge'' in the colonies by promoting enlightened leaders and an 
engaged citizenry, and they have remained faithful to their original 
missions to the present day. Their current membership includes more 
than 170 Nobel laureates and more than 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.
  This joint meeting, entitled ``The Public Good: Knowledge as the 
Foundation for a Democratic Society'' will bring together academics and 
practitioners for a series of panel discussions, conversations and 
dinner programs on many of the most pressing issues facing the Nation.
  Joining them for the unprecedented 2\1/2\-day meeting will be members 
of these congressionally chartered National Academies--the National 
Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the 
Institute of Medicine.
  At the opening of their meeting next week, the presidents of all five 
organizations will issue a joint statement affirming the importance of 
knowledge as the foundation for sound policymaking for the public good, 
and I ask unanimous consent that their unprecedented joint statement be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                Knowledge in Service to the Public Good

       As America's oldest national learned societies, we trace 
     our origins to the tumultuous periods in the Nation's 
     history. The American Philosophical Society was founded by 
     Benjamin Franklin in 1743, during a period of rapid growth 
     and intellectual development in the American colonies. The 
     American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded by John 
     Adams in 1780, in the midst of the Revolutionary War. The 
     National Academy of Sciences (1863), the National Academy of 
     Engineering (1964), and the Institute of Medicine (1970) were 
     all established under legislation signed by President Abraham 
     Lincoln during the Civil War.
       Our founders shared a conviction that knowledge in service 
     to the public good is an indispensable pillar of our Nation. 
     We have remained committed to that vision over the centuries, 
     because democracy requires freedom of inquiry, engaged and 
     educated citizens, and a wise and responsive government.
       Our societies, individually and collectively, represent 
     leading thinkers and practitioners of the Nation. We honor 
     excellence and use our unique convening powers to engage the 
     expertise of our members in collaborative action. We actively 
     create, preserve, support, and disseminate knowledge critical 
     to the growth and well-being of our Nation.
       Each generation must reaffirm and reinforce the founders' 
     reverence for scholarship and knowledge as the cornerstones 
     of progress and the building blocks of enduring institutions. 
     We live in an age of instantaneous access to unimaginably 
     rich sources of information, but truly useful information 
     continues to depend on underlying research and basic 
     knowledge.
       The Academies assemble today not just to assert the 
     importance of research and free inquiry in every field, but 
     to give practical demonstration of their worth through 
     reflection on topics that affect the workings of our society 
     and that define the public good. A nation attentive to these 
     values will long endure.
       Signed by: Emilio Bizzi, President, American Academy of 
     Arts and Sciences; Baruch S. Blumberg, President, American 
     Philosophical Society; Ralph J. Cicerone, President, National 
     Academy of Sciences; Harvey V. Fineberg, President, Institute 
     of Medicine; Wm. A. Wulf, President, National Academy of 
     Engineering.

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