Eugenics Argumentative Essay

Despite the common belief that eugenics were practiced solely by Hitler and his followers during the Holocaust, the original exploration of eugenics began in the United States. Many organizations in American funded eugenic research, then the ideas were exchanged into Hitler’s possession. After Hitler set about achieving his goal of a “Master Race”, prisoners in concentration camps encountered the harsh techniques used to fulfill Hitler’s desires. In camps, such as Auschwitz, harsh Nazi soldiers would violently control prisoners. The Nazi regime wanted to eliminate the Jews primarily, along with anyone else that did not fit the Nordic race.
Although eugenics were most prominently used during the Holocaust, the exploration of eugenics actually
Many believe David Starr Jordan first thought up the idea of eugenics. He was a direct student of Charles Darwin who did tremendous amounts of research on genetics, therefore Jordan was not lacking any knowledge. Jordan’s theory of eugenics was interesting; he believed that the upper class of America was being eroded by the lower class, and that selective breeding would be necessary to preserve the country’s upper crust ( DAVID STARR JORDAN CITE). One major supporter of eugenics was Alexander Graham Bell who strongly supported the marriage laws to prevent unfit children (ALEX G BELL CITE). In addition, Josef Mengele backed the theories, but he worked mainly in Auschwitz. Hitting closer to home, Harry Clay Sharp was a prison physician in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He began performing vasectomies on prisoners in 1899, which led to and Indiana Law that mandated compulsory sterilization of degenerates in 1907(HarRY CLAY SHCAP CITE). From there, the popularity of eugenics continued to grow and national committees, like the Rockefeller Foundation , funded research. The Rockefeller Foundation was in charge of the drastic decline in population(ROCKEFELLER DOINGS). With the help of all these people and many more, eugenics were on the rise and soon Hitler realized this is exactly what he needed to complete his chase for the “Master