A Grave Man by David Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

interjected, ‘but, surely, that was all before the war. The Americans aren’t still funding such research?’
    ‘I am afraid they are. Davenport’s ugly eugenic visions attracted Andrew Carnegie who flung money at him, as did John D. Rockefeller and the Ford Foundation. All of which gave Davenport not just the wherewithal to continue his “experiments” but a degree of respectability. He explained that America needed to “purge its blood” and “eliminate” the “feeble-minded”, the poor, the crippled and the criminal. He offered up his theories as the “solution to America’s negro problem”.’ Grimly, the Professor added, ‘You won’t be surprised to learn that he found much support, particularly in the Southern States. By the time America joined the war in 1918 several states had legalized eugenic sterilization. Before the war, German and American scientists worked closely together to refine eugenics into a “respectable” science. Schools were being taught eugenics illustrated with doctored photographs purporting to show children how to recognize “inferior” races. They invented the word “moron” to describe human beings regarded as being of subhuman intelligence. This led to further so-called scientific tests. By 1913 even the President, Teddy Roosevelt, was saying that “society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind”.’
    ‘I have never heard that English scientists got involved in this madness,’ Edward said.
    ‘That’s why I am particularly interested in Leonard’s story,’ Churchill said, sounding very subdued. ‘I have a confession to make to you, my boy. I was, for a short time, one of the deluded and I still feel guilty. Eugenics became very fashionable in the twenties. We had read about Darwin’s theories of evolution and the survival of the fittest. Francis Galton had taught that you could measure character and produced graphs and charts to “prove” that most foreigners were inferior to us Anglo-Saxons and that women could never be scientists. Complete balderdash, of course.’
    ‘But you opposed giving women the vote,’ Edward could not resist pointing out.
    ‘But not because they are inferior. They are often very much our superiors but their strengths and talents are different from ours. They can wield much more influence holding themselves above the political fray . . . but I see you are laughing at me. I admit that I fought that battle and lost and it was probably a battle I ought not to have fought but it is easy to be wise after the event, young man, as you will discover.’
    ‘I am sorry, sir – please, do go on.’
    ‘Yes, well, where was I?’ Churchill was obviously put out. He did not like to be interrupted when he was in full flow. ‘In Galton, Darwin had a disciple who took his ideas much further than was justified by the science. He believed that mankind progressed through a constant struggle among nations with weaker races going to the wall, and his views were adopted by clever men like H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw.’
    ‘Shaw!’ Edward said contemptuously. ‘I hear he praises Hitler as the greatest man of his time.’
    Churchill went on with his apologia. ‘We had heard of Gregor Mendel and his peas. If we could improve our maize, our wheat, our peas through selective breeding, surely we could improve our human beings? It seemed obvious to us that we had to improve our stock in order to provide strong, healthy young men to rule the empire. So many of the best of us had been killed in the war – like your brother, Lord Edward, and several young men close to me. My interpretation of eugenics was that we had to feed the population better and house working people in light, airy homes, not fetid slums. It seemed a democratic theory. The upper classes would have to justify their position in society or be replaced by fitter men.’
    ‘But in fact it was a gift to the dictators,’ Blacker put in.
    ‘I still think it is