Barnard was well on the road to becoming an academic. In addition to his other achievements, he received honorary degrees from many universities. World War ii, however, caused him to change his direction, and from 1942 to 1945 he was president of the United Service Organization, Inc. (USO), for which he received the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1946. After the war the demands for his services did not cease. He became a member of the Board of Consultants to the State Department on Atomic Energy and coauthor of the department’s report on international control of atomic energy in 1946.