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SENATOR WILLIAM PROXMIRE
WISCONStt
FOR RELEASE AFTER 6:30 A.Ii. TliESDAY, MARCH 11, 197S FOR TUESDAY Els
Sen. VJilliara Proxmire (D-'7is.) said on Tuesday, '*-ty choice for the biggest
waste of the taxpayer's money for the month. o£ I'arch has to be the National
Science Foundation's squandering of $34,000 to try to find out why people fall
in love.''
The "'Jisconsin Senator said, 'This was the first of a series of monthly awards
which would be cliisaxed by an annual biggest waste of the year award,-
Proxnire, who is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that
handles funding for the national Science Foundation said:
"The Hational Science Foundation is devoting $84,000 to study people's
dependence on each other in what they call 'romantic love'. They say they want
to study this especially between men and women.
"Now they are also spending $15,000 to study hitchhiking.
"They are going to spend $21,000 to study the social behaviour of the
Alaskan Brown Bear.
"Tney are putting $25,000 into the study of primate teeth.
''And $112,000 to examine the African climate during the last Ice Age.
"These are a few of their candidates for the biggest waste of the taxpayers'
money.
■■But the biggest waste has to be $34,300 to find out why or how or if or
how long people fall in love.
"I object to this not only because no one - not even the National Science
Foundation - can argue that falling in love is a science; not only because I'm sure
that even if they spend $34 million or $84 billion they wouldn't get an answer
that anyone would believe. I'm against it because I don't want the answer.
'I believe that 200 million other Americans want to leave some things in
life a mystery, and right at the top of things we don't want to know is why a
man falls in love with a woman and vice versa.
"Here we have a case where the National Science Foundation not only cannot
give us an answer for the 584,000 they are charging to taxpayers, but even if they
could give an answer we wouldn't want to hear it.
"So National Science Foundation - get out of the love racket. Leave
that to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Irving Berlin. Here if anywhere Alexander
Pope was right when he observed, 'If ignorance is bliss, tis folly*to3be"'wise'."
Object Description
| Title | Proxmire, William. Golden Fleece Awards, 1975-1987 |
| Author/Creator | Proxmire, William |
| Description | In March 1975, Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire sent out his first press release identifying wasteful government spending. He called these monthly bulletins 'Golden Fleece Awards' and they became a popular feature of his Senate tenure. Given here are digital copies of the Golden Fleece press releases, 1975-1987, from Sen. Proxmire's papers. In this digital version, each year opens with his summary of the 12 awards. A handful of the monthly press releases are missing and none have survived from 1984, which contains only the annual summary. The whole series is preceded by a 12-page list of all 159 awards compiled by WHS staff in 2010, and two undated compilations compiled by Sen. Proxmire's office. |
| Language | English |
| Decade | 1970-1979; 1980-1989; |
| Source | Wis Mss 738, Box 158, Folders 1-5; WIHV86-A182 |
| Type | Manuscript |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2011 |
| Rights | © Copyright 2011 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Digital Format | XML |
| Digital Identifier | TP525000 |
| Source Creation Date | 1976-1985 |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Language | English |
| Source | Wis Mss 738, Box 158, Folders 1-5; WIHV86-A197 |
| Type | Manuscript |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2011 |
| Rights | Copyright 2011 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Digital Format | JPEG2000 |
| Digital Identifier | TP52575031 |
| Full Text | SENATOR WILLIAM PROXMIRE WISCONStt FOR RELEASE AFTER 6:30 A.Ii. TliESDAY, MARCH 11, 197S FOR TUESDAY Els Sen. VJilliara Proxmire (D-'7is.) said on Tuesday, '*-ty choice for the biggest waste of the taxpayer's money for the month. o£ I'arch has to be the National Science Foundation's squandering of $34,000 to try to find out why people fall in love.'' The "'Jisconsin Senator said, 'This was the first of a series of monthly awards which would be cliisaxed by an annual biggest waste of the year award,- Proxnire, who is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that handles funding for the national Science Foundation said: "The Hational Science Foundation is devoting $84,000 to study people's dependence on each other in what they call 'romantic love'. They say they want to study this especially between men and women. "Now they are also spending $15,000 to study hitchhiking. "They are going to spend $21,000 to study the social behaviour of the Alaskan Brown Bear. "Tney are putting $25,000 into the study of primate teeth. ''And $112,000 to examine the African climate during the last Ice Age. "These are a few of their candidates for the biggest waste of the taxpayers' money. ■■But the biggest waste has to be $34,300 to find out why or how or if or how long people fall in love. "I object to this not only because no one - not even the National Science Foundation - can argue that falling in love is a science; not only because I'm sure that even if they spend $34 million or $84 billion they wouldn't get an answer that anyone would believe. I'm against it because I don't want the answer. 'I believe that 200 million other Americans want to leave some things in life a mystery, and right at the top of things we don't want to know is why a man falls in love with a woman and vice versa. "Here we have a case where the National Science Foundation not only cannot give us an answer for the 584,000 they are charging to taxpayers, but even if they could give an answer we wouldn't want to hear it. "So National Science Foundation - get out of the love racket. Leave that to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Irving Berlin. Here if anywhere Alexander Pope was right when he observed, 'If ignorance is bliss, tis folly*to3be"'wise'." |