Clinton, William J.

William Jefferson Clinton served two consecutive terms from 1993 to 2001 as the 42nd President of the United States. As President, Clinton proved to be a strong advocate for nanotechnology research and development, recommending $497 million in U.S. federal funding for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) beginning in 2001. The proposed budget was passed by the U.S. Congress and yearly funding has increased each year since, with $1.5 billion budgeted for fiscal year 2009. The creation of the NNI led to the passage of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act under the George W. Bush administration in 2003. The continued success of these activities has led some to speculate that the NNI may eventually be regarded as one of Clinton's most significant presidential legacies.

During Clinton's presidency, U.S. government activities dedicated to coordinating funding of nanotechnology research and development were initiated as informal U.S. federal interagency collaborations in 1996. In 1998, these early activities became formalized as the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which was established by Clinton in 1993, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. This working group led to the establishment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Before he left office in 2001, Clinton obtained congressional approval for the NNI, which serves to coordinate U.S. federal nanotechnology research and development.

During a speech he made at California Institute of Technology (CalTech) in Pasadena, California, on January 21, 2000, Clinton announced his plan to ask Congress for $497 billion to fund nanotechnology research and development through the NNI, as he stood under an image of the Western Hemisphere made up of individual gold atoms. Clinton said that advances in science and engineering would serve U.S. economic growth and lead to important new innovation in healthcare and environmental management. During his remarks, Clinton recalled Richard Feynman's vision of nanotechnology allowing for the ability to arrange atoms side by side, commented on the importance of using advances in science and technology responsibly, and talked about the future of nanotechnology, in what some science historians have described as utopian terms. Joining Clinton on the CalTech podium was the man who had helped write Clinton's speech and had arguably the most influence on Clinton's decision to launch the NNI, his science and technology advisor Neal Lane, an enthusiastic advocate of nanotechnology and one of the leading figures in the development of the NNI. Clinton briefly mentioned his CalTech speech in his autobiography, My Life.

In his January 26, 2000 State of the Union address to Congress, Clinton asked Congress to support his $3 billion 21st Century Research Fund and reaffirmed his conviction in the importance of funding emerging science and technology research and development. During this State of the Union address, he alluded to several examples of technologies that would be possible through advances in nanotechnology, including materials made from carbon nanostructures and molecular computers. The 21st Century Research Fund included $497 million allocated to the NNI, doubling previous U.S. federal funding of nanotechnology research.

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