Charles Matthias Goethe (March 28, 1875 – July 10, 1966)
was an American
eugenicist
Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...
,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
,
land developer
Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as:
* Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing
* Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpo ...
,
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
,
conservationist, founder of the
Eugenics Society of Northern California, and a
native
Native may refer to:
People
* '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood
* '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Nat ...
and lifelong resident of
Sacramento, California
Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
.
Early life
Charles M. Goethe was born on March 28, 1875, in Sacramento, California.
He pronounced his last name as GAY-tee. Goethe's grandparents had immigrated to California from Germany in the 1870s.
Charles’ father was interested in agriculture and wild life. Both men also pursued careers in real estate as Charles made most of his money as a real estate broker.
Charles had passed the bar exam but did not pursue a career in law.
As a child, Charles was interested in agriculture, biology, and the human body. In his diary, he kept a record of his diet and exercise, specifically noting days in which his regimen was not sufficient.
Goethe's additional childhood interest in various plants and animals evolved as he pressed and catalogued his findings.
His ideas concerning nature tied into his later views on eugenics, as he connected the evolution of nature to heredity.
Goethe explained in his memoir ''Seeking to Serve'' that his original interest in eugenics began as a child.
Nature guide movement
Goethe (
German pronunciation: and occasionally incorrectly as "Gaytee" ) wrote admiringly of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
’s
Forty-Niners, the State’s
giant redwood trees, and loved the outdoors. Goethe worked with organizations including the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society.
He and his wife have been called "The father and mother of the Nature Guide Movement,' initiating interpretive programs with the U.S.
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
. The National Park Service made Goethe the “Honorary Chief Naturalist” for his work in this field.
This was motivated by their experience with nature programs in Europe and desire to educate visitors in the U.S. National Parks. His motto was "Learn to Read the Trail-side as a Book." Goethe encouraged the general public to educate themselves about the evolution of nature as well, personally spending time dedicated to learning about different plants and animals.
He later introduced the Boy Scouts to Sacramento, due to his interest in furthering biological education for children.
As an adult, Goethe was a conservationist who worked to implement park rangers into national parks.
Founder of Sacramento State College
Goethe founded
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...
(Sacramento State College at the time), which in turn treated Goethe with the reverence of a
founding father
The following is a list of national founders of sovereign states who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system ...
, appointed him chairman of the university's advisory board, dedicated the
Goethe Arboretum to him in 1961, and organized an elaborate gala and 'national recognition day' to mark his 90th birthday in 1965, when he received letters of appreciation – solicited by his friends at CSUS – from the president of the
Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in ...
, then-Governor
Edmund G. Brown, and then-President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
. As a result, in 1963, Goethe changed his will to make CSUS his primary
beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example, the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is the person who receives the payment of the amount of ...
, bequeathing his residence, eugenics library, papers, and $640,000 to the university.
When Goethe died, CSUS received the largest share of his $24 million estate.
Eugenics controversy
Charles Goethe worked near Arizona, focusing on health conditions in the 1920s.
Following his work in Arizona, Goethe desired to understand “the extent of the mestizo peril to the American ‘seed stock.'"
Essentially, Goethe was determined to establish the threat of
Mexicans
Mexicans () are the citizens and nationals of the Mexico, United Mexican States. The Mexican people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish language, Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different Languages o ...
to the American population, in a eugenic sense. As a result, Goethe created the Immigration Study Commission.
With the efforts of his organization, Goethe aimed to ban Mexican entry into the United States of America. In addition, Goethe portrayed Mexicans as carriers of different diseases and germs. While he believed that certain Mexicans could appear as free of disease, they could in fact be silent carriers due to their health practices.
His ideas contributed to 1920s perceptions that the
American melting pot had begun to integrate germs from certain races, specifically the Mexican race.
Goethe was a strong proponent of positive eugenics.
His mentor was eugenicist
Madison Grant
Madison Grant (November 19, 1865 – May 30, 1937) was an American lawyer, zoologist, anthropologist, and writer known for his work as a conservation movement, conservationist, eugenics, eugenicist, and advocate of scientific racism. Grant i ...
, with whom he shared strong anti-immigrant beliefs. Like Grant, Goethe promoted his anti-immigrant and racist ideas through pamphlets and other tracts, and he lobbied with politicians and other bureaucrats. Goethe created tiny pamphlets that he distributed to explain his beliefs concerning specific ethnic groups.
In these booklets, he explained the importance of family planning and eugenic practices to ensure the superiority of certain races. He invested nearly 1 million dollars to produce and distribute these pamphlets to influence public perceptions.
In addition to investing in these booklets, Goethe also invested in research for plant and biological genetics.
Goethe also recommended
compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, refers to any government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually do ...
of the 'socially unfit', opposed
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
, and praised
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
scientists who used a comprehensive sterilization program to 'purify' the
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concepts, historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a Race (human categorization), racial grouping. The ter ...
before the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Goethe also funded anti-
Asian campaigns, praised the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
before and after World War II, and practiced
discrimination
Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
in his business dealings, refusing to sell real estate to Mexicans and Asians.
Goethe believed a variety of social successes (wealth,
leadership
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
, intellectual discoveries) and social problems (
poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
,
illegitimacy
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce.
Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...
,
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
and
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
) could be traced to inherited biological attributes associated with '
racial
Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...
temperament
In psychology, temperament broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.
Some researchers point to association of tempera ...
'.
Working with the
Human Betterment Foundation
The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E. S. Gosney and Rufus B. von KleinSmid, President of the University of Southern California, with the aim "to foster and ...
in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
, Goethe lobbied the State to restrict immigration from
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and carry out
involuntary sterilizations of mostly poor women, defined as '
feeble-minded
The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States, and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses, deficiencies of the mind, and disabilities.
At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed a ...
' or 'socially inadequate' by medical authorities between 1909 and the 1960s.
Goethe was also involved in the publication of multiple journals in which he expressed his views on eugenics. Goethe was involved with the journal ''Survey Graphic'', serving as a member of the council. The journal had published information about typhus quarantines in Mexico in both 1916 and 1917.
In addition to ''Survey Graphic'', Goethe was also featured in the journal ''Eugenics'' and explained his beliefs that Mexicans were the 'dirt of society'.
In the journal from the American Eugenics Society, he explained that Mexicans were as low as Negros, and did not understand basic health rules, but also resisted healthy practices.
In his articles, Goethe also explained that Mexicans and
South Europeans were responsible for stealing jobs from Americans and introducing germs to the people.
Upon return from a trip to Germany 1934, which at the time was sterilizing over 5,000 citizens per month, Goethe reportedly told a fellow eugenicist, "You will be interested to know that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
in this epoch-making program. Everywhere I sensed that their opinions have been tremendously stimulated by American thought...I want you, my dear friend, to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life, that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people."
The
Nazi eugenics
The social policies of eugenics in Nazi Germany were composed of various ideas about genetics. The Nazi racial theories, racial ideology of Nazism placed the biological improvement of the German people by selective breeding of "Nordic race, No ...
movement eventually escalated to become
The Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, which claimed the lives of well over 10 million 'undesirables', including 6 million Jews.
In Sacramento, during Goethe's life, the advocacy of
eugenics
Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
, the social
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
of attempting to 'improve' the human population by
artificial selection
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ...
, was considered a
progressive issue. Though it was opposed by many scientists who thought the understanding of human heredity was too shallow to create solid policy, and by religious leaders who opposed birth control of any form, in the years after the Holocaust it was not considered to be as radical as it is today.
Around 20,000 patients in California State
psychiatric hospital
A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...
system were sterilized with minimal or non-existent
consent
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual consent. Consent as understood i ...
given between 1909 and 1950, when the law went into general disuse before its repeal in the 1960s. A favorable report by
Human Betterment Foundation
The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E. S. Gosney and Rufus B. von KleinSmid, President of the University of Southern California, with the aim "to foster and ...
workers
E.S. Gosney and
Paul B. Popenoe, touting the results of the sterilizations in California, was published in the late 1920s, which in turn was often cited by the Nazi government as evidence wide-reaching sterilization programs were feasible and humane. When Nazi administrators went on trial for
war crime
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
after World War II, they justified their mass sterilizations by pointing at the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
as their inspiration.
CSUS attempted to name a new
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
building after him in 1965, but that effort was rebuffed by students and teachers.
In 2005, the university changed the name of its arboretum and botanic garden from the Charles M. Goethe Arboretum to the University Arboretum without fanfare because of renewed attention to Goethe's virulently racist views, praise of Nazi Germany, and advocacy for eugenics.
On June 21, 2007, the school board of the
Sacramento City Unified School District
Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) is a public school system in Sacramento, California. With 47,900 students in 81 schools, it is the eleventh largest school district in California.
Boundary
The SCUSD includes most of Sacramento ...
voted to rename the "Charles M. Goethe Middle School" to the "Rosa Parks Middle School".
On January 29, 2008, the
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing board of Sacramento County, California.
Like all other counties in California, with the exception of the City and County of San Francisco, California, San Francisco, Sacramen ...
stripped his name from one of Sacramento County's busiest parks. On April 25, 2008, the Sacramento Bee reported that, with a nod from Internet voters and the county parks commission, the park will be renamed River Bend Park.
- River Bend favored as new name for Goethe Park - sacbee.com
/ref>
Personal life
Charles Goethe married Mary Glide in 1903. Glide came from a wealthy family and Goethe attempted to court Mary nine times before she accepted his offer. According to Goethe, his wife Mary had refused his proposals since she feared that he was solely interested in her wealth. In addition, she rejected his attempts due to the fact that she was struggling with infertility. The Goethes owned multiple ranches and invested money in the stock market, becoming a wealthy family. At the time of her death in 1946, Mary's estate was worth $1.5 million. Her husband, Charles Goethe, had an estate worth $24 million when he died on July 10, 1966. Charles Goethe did not have any children, presumably due to Mary's infertility.
Books
''Manuelito of the Red Zerape''
by C. M. Goethe
See also
* Eugenics in the United States
Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aims at improving the Genetics, genetic quality of the human population, played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States from the late 19th century into the mid-20th c ...
References
External links
StateHornet.com
- 'Online petition seeks to change name of arboretum', David Martin Olson, '' State Hornet'' (February 4, 2005)
TimesOnline.co.uk
- 'Liberal California confronts years of forced sterilisation', Chris Ayres, ''Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' (July 11, 2003)
*
School to erase Goethe name? Staffers say honoring man with racist views insults the students.
, Dorothy Korber, "The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
" (February 15, 2007)
*
Ugly side of philanthropist divides (California State University, Sacramento)
, Eric Stern, Bee Staff Writer, "The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
" (March 1, 2007)
*
Goethe recalled fondly by some
, Eric Stern, Bee Staff Writer, "The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
" (March 2, 2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goethe, Charles
1875 births
1966 deaths
American Eugenics Society members
American Nazis
American neo-Nazis
American philanthropists
American segregationists
American white nationalists
Human Betterment Foundation members
People from Sacramento, California