124 Chapter 5
PaulA. Lombardolikewiseidentifiesprogressivismas a governistmovementintend-
ing to “delegatethe controlof socialwelfareprogramsto a professionallytrainedclassof
experts.” Additionally,Lombardograntsthatthisprogressivism“wasa key underpin-
ningof [governist]eugenicactivities.. .”^200 Andfor JonathanPeterSpiro,it stands
unequivocalthatthe pseudo-scientificideologythatinfluencedHitlerviolentlyclashed
withthe politicsof Spencerand Sumner.
Likeall progressivereformmovements,eugenicscalledfor widespread... stateaction
(andthis is wherethe eugenicistspartedcompanywiththe [laissez-faire]socialDarwin-
ists[)]... The eugenicistsneededan activiststate—so providentiallystrengthenedunder
TR [TheodoreRoosevelt]andthe progressives—to intervenein societyif the programs
wereto succeed.... negativeeugenicsdefinitelyrequiredthe coercivepowerof the state
to preventdysgenicmarriages,segregatethe unfit,restrictimmigration,andimplement
involuntarysterilization.
Thus,eugenicsmeshedwellwiththe [phony]scientificand reformistethosof American
progressivism.It wasnot an accidentthatsoonafter[Madison]Grantand his colleagues
in the interlockingdirectorate[of Progressiveorganizations]formulatedthe originalprin-
ciplesof [government-directed]wildlifemanagement,Grantandanothergroupof col-
leaguescreatedthe organizedeugenicsmovementin the UnitedStates.For if wildlife
managementwas the penultimateprogressiveidea,eugenicswas theultimateprogressive
idea[emphasisSpiro’s].^201As Spiromentions,the Americaneugenicistmovementheldan affinityfor the imposition
of environmentalistregulationsby the State.At the 1932ThirdInternationalCongressof
Eugenics, the Eugenics Congress’s vice president, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr.
(1857–1935)—directorof the AmericanMuseumof NaturalHistoryandthe manwho
bearsthe distinctionof givingTyrannosaurusRex its name—provideda keynotespeech
ladenwithwhatwouldbecometalkingpointsfor the late-twentieth-centuryGreenmove-
ment.In wordsthatwouldbe approvinglyreprintedin the journalScience, Osbornpro-
claimedthe needfor eugenicslegislationon accountof overpopulation,whichled to what
he deedthe sixover’s. Theyincluded:
Over-destructionof naturalresources,nowactuallyworld-wide;
Over-mechanization,in the substationof the machinefor animaland humanlabor,rapid-
ly becomingworld-wide;
Over-constructionof warehouses,ships,railroads,wharvesand othermeansof transport,
replacingprimitivetransportation;
Over-productionof boththe foodand of the mechanicalwantsof mankind,chieflydur-
ing the post-warspeculativeperiod[the 1920s].
Over-confidencein futuredemandandsupply,resultingin the too rapidextensionof
naturalresourcesbothin foodand in mechanicalequipment;
Over-populationbeyondthe landareas,or the capacityof the naturalandscientific
resourcesof the world,withconsequentpermanentunemploymentof the least-fitted...
I havereachedthe opinionthat over-populationand underemploymentmaybe regarded
as twinsisters.Fromthis pointof viewI evenfindthat the UnitedStatesis over-populat-
ed at the presenttime[withits 125 millionpeople]...^202Addingto everything,ThomasC. Leonardstateswhatshouldby nowbe unequivocal—
Hofstadter,“whohadportrayedreformas the polaroppositeof socialDarwinism...
doesnot discussor evenidentifythe manyinfluentialreformerswhoweredrawnto
eugenicexplanationsof socialandeconomiclife.”^203 As a consequencethereof,Leonard
apprehendsthatinsofaras one wantsto labelfree-marketSpencerismas socialDarwin-
ism,“ProgressivescertainlyopposedSocialDarwinism... But Progressivesdid not reject
‘survivalof the fittest’ ideology.Whatdistinguishesthe reformDarwinismof Progres-