Question

Charles Davenport became the Director (in 1910) of the new Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, what types of radical eugenic policies did he advocate?

Answer 1

By 1910, there was a large and dynamic network of scientists, reformers, and professionals engaged in national eugenics projects and actively promoting eugenic legislation. The first eugenic body in the U.S ‘the American Breeder's Association’ was established under the direction of Charles B. Davenport. He studied engineering at preparatory school and later became an instructor of zoology at Harvard. The idea behind establishing American Breeder’s Association was to investigate and report on heredity in the human race. Its task was also to emphasize the value of superior blood and the perils of inferior blood to society.

During the directorship of Davenport, the ERO collected huge data on family pedigrees and concluded that those who were unfit came from economically and socially poor backgrounds. Many eugenicists including Davenport, the psychologist Henry H. Goddard, Harry H. Laughlin, and the conservationist Madison Grant began to lobby for various solutions to the problem of the “unfit”. Davenport suggested immigration restriction and sterilization as primary methods. Even the ideas like segregation and extermination of those found to be “unfit.” During this time, the investigation of infant mortality rates in terms of eugenics had begun. The American Breeder's Association promoted government intervention in attempts to promote the health of future citizens.