American Eugenics Society
Encyclopedia
The American Eugenics Society (AES) was a society established in 1922 to promote eugenics
in the United States
.
It was the result of the Second International Conference on Eugenics (New York
, 1921). The founders included Madison Grant
, Harry H. Laughlin
, Irving Fisher
, Henry Fairfield Osborn
, and Henry Crampton
. The organization started by promoting racial betterment, eugenic health, and genetic education through public lectures, exhibits at county fairs etc. Under the direction of Frederick Osborn
however, the society started to place greater focus on issues of population control, genetics, and, later, medical genetics. Directly after Roe v. Wade was released (1972), the AES was reorganized and renamed "The Society for the Study of Social Biology." Osborn said, “The name was changed because it became evident that changes of a eugenic nature would be made for reasons other than eugenics, and that tying a eugenic label on them would more often hinder than help their adoption. Birth control and abortion are turning out to be great eugenic advances of our time."
The prominent list of original founders of sponsors of The American Eugenics Society each had some direct relationship with either Wickliffe Draper
of The Pioneer Fund
or Andrew Preston founder of The Boston Fruit Company
, later United Fruit in New Orleans, LA:
In 1930 many of the wealthiest people in the world were members of the American Eugenics Society.
It earliest members and sponsors included:
J. P. Morgan, Jr., chairman, U. S. Steel, who handled British contracts in the United States for food and munitions during World War I. Wickliffe Draper used his J. P. Morgan Trust Account to fund The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission and its activities.
Mrs. Mary Duke Biddle, tobacco fortune heiress whose family founded Duke University.
Cleveland H. and Cleveland E. Dodge and their wives, who used some of the huge fortune that Phelps Dodge & Company made on copper mines and other metals to support eugenics.
Robert Garrett, whose family had amassed a fortune through banking in Maryland and the B&O railroad, who helped finance two international eugenics congresses attended by Harry Laughlin and Wickliffe Draper.
Miss E. B. Scripps, whose wealth came the Scrips-Howard newspaper chain and from United Press (later UPI).
Dorothy H. Brush, Planned Parenthood activist, whose wealth came from Charles Francis Brush (1849–1929), who invented the arc lamp for street lights and founded the Brush Electric Company. Draper's version of Planned Parenthood was to pass the Involuntary Sterilization laws in 15 different U.S. States.
Margaret Sanger, also from Planned Parenthood, who used the wealth of one of one of her husbands, Noah Slee, to promote her work. Slee made his fortune from the familiar household product, 3-in-One Oil.
The other Finance Committee members included:
Kellogg was outspoken on his beliefs on race and segregation, in spite of the fact that he himself adopted a number of black children. In 1906, together with Irving Fisher and Charles Davenport, Kellogg founded the Race Betterment Foundation, which became a major center of the new eugenics movement in America. Kellogg was in favor of racial segregation and believed that immigrants and non-whites would damage the gene pool. He acted as a sort of mentor and advisor to Wickliffe Draper through his publications. Draper adopted Kellogg's recommendations and beliefs on subjects like racial segregation, anti-miscegenation laws
, staunch anti-immigration attitudes and also the lifestyle choice of total sexual abstinence as a lifelong habit. Draper later died from prostate cancer. It is not known whether or not Draper was converted by Kellogg into one of the favorite Kellogg routines of taking regular yogurt enemas.
Robert Garrett was one of the primary financial sponsors of the American Eugenics Society the personal project of Wickliffe P. Draper who sponsored most of the research behind "The Bell Curve" published in 1994. Garrett also served on the Finance Committee of the International Congress of The American Eugenics Society along with Madison Grant, author of "The Passing of the Great Race."
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
It was the result of the Second International Conference on Eugenics (New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 1921). The founders included Madison Grant
Madison Grant
Madison Grant was an American lawyer, historian and physical anthropologist, known primarily for his work as a eugenicist and conservationist...
, Harry H. Laughlin
Harry H. Laughlin
Harry Hamilton Laughlin was a leading American eugenicist in the first half of the 20th century. He was the director of the Eugenics Record Office from its inception in 1910 to its closing in 1939, and was among the most active individuals in influencing American eugenics policy, especially...
, Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...
, Henry Fairfield Osborn
Henry Fairfield Osborn
Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. ForMemRS was an American geologist, paleontologist, and eugenicist.-Early life and career:...
, and Henry Crampton
Henry Crampton
Henry Edward Crampton was an American paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, who specialized in the study of land snails. Crampton made twelve separate expeditions over the course of his career to Moorea near Tahiti to study the land snail genus Partula, while years more were spent measuring...
. The organization started by promoting racial betterment, eugenic health, and genetic education through public lectures, exhibits at county fairs etc. Under the direction of Frederick Osborn
Frederick Osborn
Major General Frederick Henry Osborn was an American philanthropist, military leader, and eugenicist. He was a founder of several organizations, and played a central part in reorienting eugenics in the years following World War II away from the race- and class-consciousness from earlier periods...
however, the society started to place greater focus on issues of population control, genetics, and, later, medical genetics. Directly after Roe v. Wade was released (1972), the AES was reorganized and renamed "The Society for the Study of Social Biology." Osborn said, “The name was changed because it became evident that changes of a eugenic nature would be made for reasons other than eugenics, and that tying a eugenic label on them would more often hinder than help their adoption. Birth control and abortion are turning out to be great eugenic advances of our time."
Prominent founders
American Eugenics Society : Leon Whitney was the executive secretaryThe prominent list of original founders of sponsors of The American Eugenics Society each had some direct relationship with either Wickliffe Draper
Wickliffe Draper
Wickliffe Preston Draper was an American multimillionaire and an ardent eugenicist and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation...
of The Pioneer Fund
Pioneer Fund
The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences." Currently headed by psychology professor J. Philippe Rushton, the fund states that it focuses on projects it perceives will not be easily funded due to...
or Andrew Preston founder of The Boston Fruit Company
Boston Fruit Company
The Boston Fruit Company was a fruit production and import business based in the port of Boston, Massachusetts. Andrew W. Preston and nine others established the firm to ship bananas and other fruit from the West Indes to north-eastern America. At the time, the banana was "considered a rare and...
, later United Fruit in New Orleans, LA:
In 1930 many of the wealthiest people in the world were members of the American Eugenics Society.
It earliest members and sponsors included:
J. P. Morgan, Jr., chairman, U. S. Steel, who handled British contracts in the United States for food and munitions during World War I. Wickliffe Draper used his J. P. Morgan Trust Account to fund The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission and its activities.
Mrs. Mary Duke Biddle, tobacco fortune heiress whose family founded Duke University.
Cleveland H. and Cleveland E. Dodge and their wives, who used some of the huge fortune that Phelps Dodge & Company made on copper mines and other metals to support eugenics.
Robert Garrett, whose family had amassed a fortune through banking in Maryland and the B&O railroad, who helped finance two international eugenics congresses attended by Harry Laughlin and Wickliffe Draper.
Miss E. B. Scripps, whose wealth came the Scrips-Howard newspaper chain and from United Press (later UPI).
Dorothy H. Brush, Planned Parenthood activist, whose wealth came from Charles Francis Brush (1849–1929), who invented the arc lamp for street lights and founded the Brush Electric Company. Draper's version of Planned Parenthood was to pass the Involuntary Sterilization laws in 15 different U.S. States.
Margaret Sanger, also from Planned Parenthood, who used the wealth of one of one of her husbands, Noah Slee, to promote her work. Slee made his fortune from the familiar household product, 3-in-One Oil.
The other Finance Committee members included:
- Leon F. Whitney, the son of Eli Whitney inventor of the Cotton Gin who was the Chairman. The Draper Looms in Hopedale, MA were used to spin the raw cotton harvested by the Eli Whitney cotton gins into fabrics, cloth and yarn.
- Frank L. Babbott, the well-known philanthropist and educator.
- Madison Grant, later of The Pioneer Fund, founded by Wickliffe Draper following the 1936 Olympics when his namesake, Foy Draper, was edged out for Olympic glory by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalf.
- Mrs. Helen Hartley Jenkins and John H. KelloggJohn Harvey KelloggJohn Harvey Kellogg was an American medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan, who ran a sanitarium using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition, enemas and exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism and is best known for the invention of the corn flakes breakfast cereal...
who started the Kellogg's Cereal CompanyKellogg CompanyKellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...
. - John Kellogg and The Race Betterment Foundation
Kellogg was outspoken on his beliefs on race and segregation, in spite of the fact that he himself adopted a number of black children. In 1906, together with Irving Fisher and Charles Davenport, Kellogg founded the Race Betterment Foundation, which became a major center of the new eugenics movement in America. Kellogg was in favor of racial segregation and believed that immigrants and non-whites would damage the gene pool. He acted as a sort of mentor and advisor to Wickliffe Draper through his publications. Draper adopted Kellogg's recommendations and beliefs on subjects like racial segregation, anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races...
, staunch anti-immigration attitudes and also the lifestyle choice of total sexual abstinence as a lifelong habit. Draper later died from prostate cancer. It is not known whether or not Draper was converted by Kellogg into one of the favorite Kellogg routines of taking regular yogurt enemas.
Robert Garrett was one of the primary financial sponsors of the American Eugenics Society the personal project of Wickliffe P. Draper who sponsored most of the research behind "The Bell Curve" published in 1994. Garrett also served on the Finance Committee of the International Congress of The American Eugenics Society along with Madison Grant, author of "The Passing of the Great Race."
List of presidents
- Irving FisherIrving FisherIrving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...
1922-26 (Political Economy, Yale University) - Roswell H. Johnson 1926-27 (Cold Spring Harbor, Univ. of Pittsburgh)
- Harry H. LaughlinHarry H. LaughlinHarry Hamilton Laughlin was a leading American eugenicist in the first half of the 20th century. He was the director of the Eugenics Record Office from its inception in 1910 to its closing in 1939, and was among the most active individuals in influencing American eugenics policy, especially...
1927-29 (Eugenics Record Office) - C. C. LittleC. C. LittleClarence Cook "C.C." Little was an American genetics, cancer, and tobacco researcher and academic administrator.-Biography:...
1929 (Pres., Michigan University) - Henry Pratt FairchildHenry Pratt FairchildHenry Pratt Fairchild was a distinguished American sociologist. He was a sociologist who was actively involved in many of the controversial issues of his time. He wrote about race relations, abortion and contraception, and immigration...
1929-31 (Sociology, New York University) - Henry PerkinsHenry PerkinsHenry Farnham Perkins was an American zoologist and eugenicist.-Early life and ancestry:He was born at 205 South Prospect Street in Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont in the house where he spent his entire life in the affluent "Burlington Hill" neighborhood next to the University of Vermont on...
1931-34 (Zoology, University of Vermont) - Ellsworth HuntingtonEllsworth HuntingtonEllsworth Huntington was a professor of geography at Yale University during the early 20th century, known for his studies on climatic determinism, economic growth and economic geography...
1934-38 (Geography, Yale University) - Samuel Jackson HolmesSamuel Jackson HolmesSamuel Jackson Holmes was an American zoologist. He was at University of California, Berkeley. He was also a eugenicist.He was the son of Joseph Holmes and his wife Avis Folger née Taber...
1938-40 (Zoology, University of California) - Maurice BigelowMaurice BigelowMaurice Alpheus Bigelow was an American social hygienist, early sex-educator and eugenist. He served as president of the American Eugenics Society from 1940 until 1945, as director of the School of Practical Arts at Columbia University Teacher’s College and was affiliated with the American...
1940-45 (Columbia University) - Frederick OsbornFrederick OsbornMajor General Frederick Henry Osborn was an American philanthropist, military leader, and eugenicist. He was a founder of several organizations, and played a central part in reorienting eugenics in the years following World War II away from the race- and class-consciousness from earlier periods...
1946-52 (Osborn-Dodge-Harriman RR connection) - Harry L. ShapiroHarry L. ShapiroHarry Lionel Shapiro was an American author, eugenicist, and Professor of Anthropology.-Biography:Shapiro was born in to a Jewish family and was educated in Boston, Massachusetts....
1956-63 (American Museum of Natural History) - Clyde V. Kiser 1964-68 (differential fertility, Milbank Memorial Fund)
- Dudley Kirk 1969-72 (Demographer, Stanford University)
- Bruce K. Eckland 1972-75 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)
- L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling 1976-78 (Genetic Psychiatry)
- Lindzey Gardner 1979-81 (Center for Advanced Study, Behavioral Sciences)
- John L. Fuller 1982-83 (Behavioral genetics)
- Michael TeitelbaumMichael TeitelbaumMichael S. Teitelbaum is a demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City.He publishes on immigration issues in both the popular and academic press and served as Commissioner to the U.S. Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development and...
1985-1990 (US Congress staff; US population policy) - Robert Retherford 1991-1994 (East-West Institute, Hawaii; funded by AID)
- Joseph Lee Rodgers 1994, 1995 (family influences)
- Current: Hans-Peter Kohler
See also
- Eugenics in the United States
- British Eugenics Society
- Human Betterment FoundationHuman Betterment FoundationThe Human Betterment Foundation was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E.S. Gosney with the aim "to foster and aid constructive and educational forces for the protection and betterment of the human family in body, mind, character, and citizenship"...