Thanks, Beth. History’s leftovers are rarely appetizing—but plating them up reminds us why we need a different recipe this time around. Appreciate you reading.
Thanks for this, Peter. Can you tell me where the photo of the "Race Betterment" pavilion was taken? The link to the American Experience program has the photo but no caption.
What a revolting/fascinating thing. Would love to see the place it it still exists, even without any trace of the subject.
Ah. Thanks. So torn down a hundred-plus years ago. I've spent a good part of the afternoon digging thru the links there. Found some really fun details, including the map showing the hospital in the Presidio where an Army surgeon saved my grandfather's life, the final resting place of the fair's railroad (a property down the coast where I saw that train but did not know where it was from), and a few other tasty tidbits!
What became of these "better babies"? I know from living in Indiana, for example, that there were/are numerous Klan factions. Could these groups be led by the descendants of "better babies"? If anyone is looking for actual feeble mindedness the all white towns in southern Indiana would be a good place to start.
Great question, Icarian. The contest ledgers rarely tracked their ribbon-winners past the county fair, so we can’t pin today’s hooded headlines on any one “model infant.” What we can trace is the climate they grew up in: Indiana passed the nation’s first compulsory sterilization law in 1907 and saw a Klan-dominated legislature in the 1920s. Even if the exact family trees remain murky, the eugenic mindset clearly outlived the baby pageant trophies - and, as you note, it still finds fertile ground in those “all-white” pockets.
If you want the full, chilling backstory, Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland is a riveting deep dive into how the Indiana Klan tried to wrap bigotry in patriotism. And how one brave woman helped bring the whole rotten edifice down. Highly recommended.
Thank you for replying. I'll check out A Fever in the Heartland. Having lived in some of the states where this movement was once (still is?) popular it's pretty obvious it wasn't successful. The smaller gene pool the more mutants you get. European royal families of 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries are a good example of what happens with in-breeding.
“History’s quiet warning: the distance between measuring a toddler and policing a migrant is shorter than you think.” This was an eye-opening statement, to me. Thank you for this essay - very enlightening in terms of seeing the depth and longevity of the far right’s desires for population engineering - and how impossible it is for them to make it succeed.
Thanks, Pamela—glad that line resonated. From baby scales to border walls, the measuring stick keeps changing but the mindset stays the same; calling it out is our best way to snap it in half.
I couldn't agree more that yesteryear's eugenics and today's MFGA movement are evil twins from the same wicked womb, and both a bitter legacy and bright flashing red light for our future. I must add, however, there are examples of unfit reproduction that are a legitimate argument for forced sterilization. To wit: Elon.
Frightening to realize how many former Fox Talking Heads are now in Trump's cabinet and inner circle. Main qualification is he likes how they look on TV. BTW: I can recommend a good read. "Audience of One: Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America" by James Poniewozik
This entire history with contemporary upgrade is stomach-churning. Thank you for this.
Thanks, Beth. History’s leftovers are rarely appetizing—but plating them up reminds us why we need a different recipe this time around. Appreciate you reading.
"part family tree, part biohazard symbol"
OOF.
Thanks for this, Peter. Can you tell me where the photo of the "Race Betterment" pavilion was taken? The link to the American Experience program has the photo but no caption.
What a revolting/fascinating thing. Would love to see the place it it still exists, even without any trace of the subject.
Hi Bern, the photo is from this event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama–Pacific_International_Exposition
Ah. Thanks. So torn down a hundred-plus years ago. I've spent a good part of the afternoon digging thru the links there. Found some really fun details, including the map showing the hospital in the Presidio where an Army surgeon saved my grandfather's life, the final resting place of the fair's railroad (a property down the coast where I saw that train but did not know where it was from), and a few other tasty tidbits!
Good digging. A worthy rabbit hole. Great that gramps made it!
What became of these "better babies"? I know from living in Indiana, for example, that there were/are numerous Klan factions. Could these groups be led by the descendants of "better babies"? If anyone is looking for actual feeble mindedness the all white towns in southern Indiana would be a good place to start.
Great question, Icarian. The contest ledgers rarely tracked their ribbon-winners past the county fair, so we can’t pin today’s hooded headlines on any one “model infant.” What we can trace is the climate they grew up in: Indiana passed the nation’s first compulsory sterilization law in 1907 and saw a Klan-dominated legislature in the 1920s. Even if the exact family trees remain murky, the eugenic mindset clearly outlived the baby pageant trophies - and, as you note, it still finds fertile ground in those “all-white” pockets.
If you want the full, chilling backstory, Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland is a riveting deep dive into how the Indiana Klan tried to wrap bigotry in patriotism. And how one brave woman helped bring the whole rotten edifice down. Highly recommended.
Thank you for replying. I'll check out A Fever in the Heartland. Having lived in some of the states where this movement was once (still is?) popular it's pretty obvious it wasn't successful. The smaller gene pool the more mutants you get. European royal families of 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries are a good example of what happens with in-breeding.
“History’s quiet warning: the distance between measuring a toddler and policing a migrant is shorter than you think.” This was an eye-opening statement, to me. Thank you for this essay - very enlightening in terms of seeing the depth and longevity of the far right’s desires for population engineering - and how impossible it is for them to make it succeed.
Thanks, Pamela—glad that line resonated. From baby scales to border walls, the measuring stick keeps changing but the mindset stays the same; calling it out is our best way to snap it in half.
I couldn't agree more that yesteryear's eugenics and today's MFGA movement are evil twins from the same wicked womb, and both a bitter legacy and bright flashing red light for our future. I must add, however, there are examples of unfit reproduction that are a legitimate argument for forced sterilization. To wit: Elon.
Agreed. Elon is far too busy in that department.
As a Flynn, all I can say is that the joke is on those racist fools. Flynns have all kinds of screwed up of genetic problems.
Ouch
So all those sci-fi stories about super breeders, super athletes, super soldiers etc. We’re really based on history?
Terrifying
This, if spread widely, could turn the tide.
Well done. Reading about Duffy in NYT this morning had already turned my stomach.
Frightening to realize how many former Fox Talking Heads are now in Trump's cabinet and inner circle. Main qualification is he likes how they look on TV. BTW: I can recommend a good read. "Audience of One: Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America" by James Poniewozik
Thanks! I’ll add it to my list!
Reminds to articles on DNA testing by white nationalists who discover that they not quite as 'white' as they hoped to be.
God yes. And I'm wondering if there was a Bigger Baby Contest who would win, Trump or Musk?