Pronatalism, “Positive Eugenics,” and Social Reform Jennifer Fronc (bio) Laura L. Lovett. Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction, and the Family in the United States, 1890–1938. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. xi + 248 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $59.95 (cloth); $19.95 (paper). In 1911, the Iowa State Fair featured a "Million Dollar Parade." In addition to "prize livestock and other agricultural products," the parade showcased young children riding in a cart, flanked by a banner that read "'Iowa's Best Crop.'" This accolade had been bestowed upon the toddlers by "examiners [who] followed the only criterion available to them at the time: the methods of observing used by stock judges for determining prize livestock" (p. 132). This is one of many fascinating vignettes in Laura L. Lovett's new book Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction, and the Family in the United States, 1890–1938. Through case studies of five individuals and their respective programs, Lovett explores the history and development of "positive eugenics"—policies designed to encourage reproduction of the "fittest" and to support their families. Conceiving the Future argues that reformers mobilized nostalgic images of resilient farm families and the "promise" of the frontier to promote the creation of a stronger nation. She argues that the form of pronatalism that evolved out of positive eugenics "was not overtly coercive, but was profoundly influential" (p. 9). Lovett argues that the "United States invested heavily in the reproduction of its citizenry" in the first decades of the twentieth century. In addition to sterilization campaigns or immigration restrictions, Lovett contends that some "reformers and politicians promoted pronatalism indirectly as part of public campaigns for land reclamation, playgrounds, or suburban development. These reformers knowingly promoted families, but their efforts were not always explicitly framed in terms of reproduction" (p. 3). Lovett's reformers speak in veiled terms about "growing menaces" and the need for "outlets" and "safety valves" to combat the evils of urbanization. The racism and nativism inherent in their efforts impacted not only the "fit," but also the "unfit"; however, this aspect of the discussion ultimately raises many questions. [End Page 630] The book's structure is dictated by the focus on "five significant historical figures and their signature social agendas or policies": Populist Mary Elizabeth Lease and her maternalist agenda; George H. Maxwell's promotion of irrigation and reclamation in the service of western settlement; Edward A. Ross and "race suicide"; Theodore Roosevelt's conservation efforts in service of "the race"; and Dr. Florence Sherbon's "fitter family" contests (p. 3). The book's greatest strengths rest in Lovett's perspective on the problems created by urbanization and her analysis of the gendered implications of pronatalist thinking. The book's first thematic chapter explores how, in the late nineteenth century, women deployed maternalist thinking to propel themselves into public and political roles. For example, Populist Mary Elizabeth Lease derived political success from her ability to "connect the political and economic issues of Populism with issues that bore directly on women and the family" (p. 18). Lease, a popular and powerful orator for the Populist Party, parlayed her skill into a political career, and Lovett traces her movement from Populist orator to newspaper editor to the chair of the Kansas State Board of Charities and beyond. Lovett argues that Lease and her contemporaries, such as Frances Willard of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, "further justified" their own political participation "by presenting mothers and children as those who bore the brunt of economic hardship" (p. 27). The argument in this chapter about the mobilization of maternalist thinking in the service of public political gain is reminiscent of Mary Ryan's argument in Women in Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825–1880 (1992), Lori Ginzberg's in Women and the Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States (1992), and Robyn Muncy's in Creating a Female Dominion in American Reform, 1890–1935 (1994). Lovett adapts these arguments in order to make an important contribution to historians' understanding of the role of women in the Populist movement. Lawrence Goodwyn's classic text The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian...
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Nov 19, 2024
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