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GK Chesterton, Churchill, eugenics and "feeble mindedness"

While listening to GKC's book on Eugenics, I learned that some British MPs introduced eugenic legislation that sought to limit the procreativity of the "feeble minded."

***

Later I learned that Churchill himself was quite in favor of such legislation:
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/finest-hour-online/594-churchill-and-eugenics

Also worth noting is that this movement was much more successful in the US than in the UK, in part because scientists successfully used their expertize as political capital:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/4027015

Comments

Lisa said…
In the United States, famous proponents of eugenic legislation ranged from Margaret Sanger (founder of planned parenthood) and Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockerfeller, and the State governments of California, Virginia, North Carolina, and some 30 others. Around 20,000 individuals were subjected to compulsory sterilization surgeries to prevent them from procreating their "kind." Some of them were as young as ten years old, and the basis for sterilization were as trivial as truancy. When Nazi Germans were going through their post-war Nuremburg trials, they specifically cited the U.S. eugenics programs and legislation as their inspiration for a cleaner race.
9:58 AM
Leo White said…
Wow! The Nazis learned from the U.S. eugenics program--that's shocking! But then again, it makes sense. Thanks for the info!
10:01 AM
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