Connecticut Eugenics for JHU Bioethics

In 1938, Connecticut planned a door-to-door eugenic survey to identify who was socially, genetically, or eugenically fit to remain in the state. Officials were inspired by the actions of Nazi Germany, which in turn had been inspired by American eugenics. So-called “unfit” Connecticut citizens were to be expelled to camps in the Ozarks for eventual extermination. Governor Wilbur Cross lost his 1938 re-election bid, and the plans were abandoned—but Connecticut has never apologized. Drawn from Edwin Black’s bestselling and award-winning War Against the Weak.

Presented for the Biotechnology Department’s Bioethics Course at Johns Hopkins University.