What role did eugenics play in the early 20th century and how did the belief in a better race affect people’s mating habits?
In truth, eugenics was popular in the United States and in other countries because people were made to believe that society was faltering due to poor breeding. They believed that only the best (wealthiest) should breed and that criminals, those accused of having mental disorders, and the poor should be sterilized.
What is truly scary is that some people still believe this today.
Avoid Idiot Children
Vienna, “alarmed at the large sums which the municipality has had to spend on treatment for children born idiots,” suggested that its people consult a doctor before marriage back in 1922. The doctor would then examine both the man and the woman and help them decide if they would make perfect babies or “idiot” babies. They also suggested that people should use practical, common sense before breeding. Don’t breed with mentally or physically disabled people, and if you yourself are less than perfect, consider remaining single for the sake of the community. [1]
Race Betterment
In 1915, the “Eugenics Registry” was recommended for the betterment of the human race. Dr. J.H. Kellogg, a firm supporter of the registry, from Battle Creek, Michigan openly suggested that people should be bred like livestock:
“The establishment of a registry for horses created a famous breed of English thoroughbreds. The object sought by the proposed eugenics registry is to accomplish for human beings the same marvelous transformations and to evolve the same betterments that have been and still are being accomplished for pigs and cattle. We have created wonderful new species of domestic animals. Why not have a new and improved species of man?” [2]
First Set of Eugenic Twins
The problem with eugenics is that everyone seems to think they are the perfect specimen for breeding. For example, back in 1912, the first set of eugenic twins were born to an 80-year-old man and his wife, a young stenographer. The old man was, of course, a doctor and had the idea to raise them “with a view to making them samples of what the race will be in the future when the science of eugenics has come to its own.” [3]
Moms Arrange the Perfect Marriage
In 1915, California, moms were already arranging marriages for their young children based on eugenics. Never mind love and attraction. Some people were being foolish enough to believe that perfect children will grow up to be perfect adults who will, in turn, have more perfect children. [4]
Sterilize the Undesirables
The Rockefeller’s and the Harriman’s had their own solution for the sake of eugenics. It involved the sterilization of thousands of American “defectives.” These supposedly perfect beings financed the sterilization of anyone who was poor, who was born to a criminal parent, and anyone who was considered insane by the corrupt medical establishment of the early 1900s. [5]
Health Certificate
Georgia’s “perfect woman,” Miss Susan Myrick was not only the first person to enroll on a Michigan eugenic registry, she wanted the matter taken even further in 1916.
“We need laws which will demand a health certificate from people who come to buy marriage licenses,” she said, “and physicians who will be strong enough to refuse to give them unless they have examined the patients and found them mentally and physically fit.”
“It is the fault of the state that allows its degenerates to reproduce their kind. It is the unwisdom of the individual that does not apply the theory of eugenics in seeking a mate. Selection among individuals would improve the breed. What people will not do for themselves they should be made to do by law.” [6]
Breed Out Crime
It was a common belief that criminal behavior was hereditary. In 1913, Victor C. Vaughan, a supporter of eugenics, believed it was best if criminals were “disinfected.”
He wrote, “Crime is a disease due to hereditary, or environment, or both, and at present we permit it to breed and come to maturity in our midst. It will not grow less as long as this continues. Its breeding places should be located and disinfected. No child should be born into this world save from good stock. However, good stock needs some explanation. By good stock the eugenist means one relatively free from undesirable unit characters, and the most important of these are alcoholism, feeblemindedness, epilepsy, insanity, pauperism, and criminality. All those classes should be excluded from the list of those to whom is granted the privileges of exercising the highest, holiest, most important function of the race – parenthood.” [7]
