Frederick Osborn - World War II and Later Life

World War II and Later Life

Many civil rights leaders alleged that, even after the revelation of genocide in World War II, eugenic influences remained strong in the United States due to Osborn and others of the Population Society (including John D. Rockefeller, Lewis Strauss, Karl Compton, and Detlev Bronk). He also encouraged and endorsed programs in Nazi Germany that sterilized Jews, Poles, and others deemed "unsuitable" to breed. Although Hitler's genocidal tactics and acts caused revulsion in the United States, he continued to promote eugenic ideals.

In 1940, Osborn was selected by Franklin Roosevelt to chair the Civilian Advisory Committee on Selective Service. Five months later, he took over as Chair of the Army Committee on Welfare and Recreation, responsible for information and education services for military personnel. In September 1941, he was commissioned as Brigadier General and appointed Chief of the Morale Branch of the War Department (later called the Information and Education Division of Special Services). By the war's end he had earned promotion to Major General and had been awarded a bronze star in Paris, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Selective Service Medal, and was made Honorary Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Osborn served at Princeton as a charter trustee from 1943–1955, and as a member of several advisory boards, including the Curriculum Committee and Psychology Department Council.

In 1954, Osborn played a central role in the founding of the journal Eugenics Quarterly, which changed its name in 1970 to Social Biology.(Osborn 1974) The journal is published by Duke University.

During the post-war years, one of Osborn's lasting influences was shifting the emphasis of American eugenics to positive eugenics, which seeks to achieve eugenic goals through encouraging the spread of desired traits, as opposed to negative eugenics, which seeks to achieve eugenic goals through discouraging the spread of undesired traits.