Oral history interview with R. W. Taylor

Abstract

Following a brief description of his academic and professional background before joining ARPA, Taylor describes his impression of the IPT Office when he arrived in 1965.

Most of the interview is concerned with the IPT Office under Taylor's tenure as Director from 1966 to 1969. The major issues he discusses are: his understanding of the overall mission of the IPT Office at that time; the working relationship between IPTO and the Director of ARPA; the effect of external events, such as the Viet Nam war, on IPTO; how the budget process operated; what general areas of research were funded by IPTO; how IPTO compared to other government agencies in its funding of research in computer science; what sort of relationship the IPT Office maintained with its various contractors; and finally, how Taylor's successor was recruited to head the IPT Office. The interview ends with Taylor's general observations on how IPTO and ARPA have changed since their early years.