Funding was plentiful, the oceans were essentially unknown, the science was new and in a major growth phase. Our science and national priorities that govern public funding of science have changed greatly in those 50 years, there's no doubt about that. They have, in fact, changed in favor of the Earth sciences in that concerns for environmental issues are now prominent in national debates. At the same time, there seems little to be learned from the competition. The problem is actually quite vexing.
Nobody can really see the future.
Almost every prediction of what the world will be like decades ahead has been wrong. The world in 1984 turned out to be nothing like George Orwell's dire vision for that date projected forward as it was from 20 years before. Change never seems to be quite as rapid as people believe it will be, unless change is propelled by catastrophic events like global conflicts. This is not at all a thoughtless approach if one is prepared to respond to changes when they actually occur. In the meantime we stick to what has worked in the past.