114 Chapter 5
ica’s juvenilecourts,as wellas the founderof the AmericanEugenicsSocietyandprevi-
ouslythe presidentof the EugenicsResearchAssociation.He, too, itchedto segregate“the
cheaperraces” fromhis ownethnicity.^95 Likewise,an unsignededitorialinThe New
Republic, mostlikelywrittenby HerbertCroly,proclaimed,“Laissez-faireas a policyof
populationleadsstraightto perdition.... Imbecilitybreedsimbecilityas certainlyas
whitehensbreedwhitechickens;and underlaissez-faireimbecilityis givenfull chanceto
breed,and doesso in fact at a rate far superiorto that of ablestocks.... We suggestthat a
socializedpolicyof populationcannotbe builtupona laissez-faireeconomicpolicy.So
longas whenthe stateneglectsits goodblood,it will let its bad bloodalone.... Whenthe
stateassumesthe dutyof givinga fair opportunityfor developmentto everychild,it will
findunanimoussupportfor a policyof extinctionof stocksincapableof profitingfrom
theirprivileges.”^96 The Centerfor AmericanProgress’s seriesof pamphletsextollingPro-
gressivism,The ProgressiveTradition, hailsHerbertCrolyas a wonderfulProgressive^97 but
acknowledgesnothingof Croly’s eugenics.In fact,CAPtriesto attribute“newrestrictions
on immigration” in the 1920sto the declineof the Progressives’ influence,^98 glossingover
the fact that progressivesinitiatedthoseimmigrationrestrictions.
TheRoughRider’s RoughRhetoric
Of specialnoteis PresidentTheodoreRoosevelt—sometimescalledTRfor short—who
had appointedOliverWendellHolmes,Jr., to the SupremeCourt.^99 TR, the twenty-sixth
presidentin the historyof the UnitedStates,receivesoverallapprovalfromthe political
Lefton accountof his attackson freeenterprise.“WhatevermayhavebeenRoosevelt’s
faults,” judgesJamesTruslowAdams,“and theyweremanyand opento all men’s view,I
thinkit cannotbe deniedthat he left the heartof the nationsounderand morewholesome
thanhe hadfoundit; andthatis somethingof whichfew statesmencan boast.”^100 With
TR as President,cheersthe CAP,salutary“reform” at last “hadthe national-leveladvo-
cate it needed.”^101
Ah, but TR hadthe sameviewson immigrationandforeignpolicyas did RayStan-
nardBaker,AlbertBeveridge,WilliamAllenWhite,and CharlesHenderson.If RobertM.
Reesis rightthatconfidencein freeenterpriseis the definingcharacteristicof social
Darwinism,thenonewouldbe unableto placePresidentTR in the rogue’s galleryof
socialDarwinists.ArthurEkirchrecountsthat“severalsuccessfulantitrustcasesearlyin
his Administration—notablythe breakingup of the NorthernSecuritiesCompany,a rail-
roadcombineput togetherby E. H. Harriman,JamesJ. Hill,andJ. P. Morgan—won
Roosevelta reputationas a trustbusterandstaunchProgressive.... Roosevelt’s leader-
shipcontributedto suchimportantlegislationin his secondtermas the Hepburnrailroad
rate bill, the MeatInspectionAct,and the PureFoodand DrugLaw.”^102
But thissametrustbusterpresentsyet anotherstarkexampleof a politicallymain-
streamprogressiveroughlyridingon the eugenicsbandwagon.^103 In TeddyRoosevelt’s
ownwords,it is “obviousthatif in the futureracialqualitiesare to be improved,the
improvingmustbe wroughtmainlyby favoringthe fecundityof the worthytypesand
frowningon the fecundityof the unworthytypes.At present,we do just the reverse.
Thereis no checkon the fecundityof thosewhoare subnormal,bothintellectuallyand
morally,whilethe providentand thriftytendto developa coldselfishness,whichmakes
themrefuseto breedat all.”^104 TR furtherworriedthatthe rate at whichnonwhitesbred
hadaccelerated,whereascontraceptionhadsloweddownthe whitepopulation’s. Such
behavior,Rooseveltwarnedin a 1911articlepublishedinThe Outlook, “meansracial
death.”^105 Racesuicideis somethingthat TR shriekedwas the “greatestproblemof civiliza-
tion.”^106