Who Shall and Shall Not Have a Place in the World?

IN MAY 1921, the organizers of the Second International Congress of Eugenics assured the public that its conference, to be held later that year in September, would be taking a measured approach to “the topic of human racial differences.” All sides of the matter would be soberly considered; no conclusions would be reached in a hurry. The public could feel secure that, as the statement brightly declared, “certain prejudices directed toward existing races will be removed when allowance is made for the influence of their social and educational environment, and their fundamentally sound and strong racial characteristics are brought to light. On the other hand,” the announcement more somberly continued, “limits to development of certain races and the inalterability through education and environment of the fundamental characteristics of certain stocks will be considered.”

By the time the first meeting of the congress rolled around, a scant five months later, the science seemed to have been settled—and it apparently gave reason for considerable alarm. In his welcome address, Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History and soon-to-be...