Wickliffe Draper
Encyclopedia
Wickliffe Preston Draper (August 9, 1891–1972) was an American multimillionaire and an ardent eugenicist
and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation. In 1937 he founded the Pioneer Fund
, a registered charitable organisation established to provide scholarships for descendants of original white American settlers and to support research into heredity and eugenics; he later became its principal benefactor.
, he was the son of George A. Draper
, a wealthy textile machinery manufacturer (Draper looms
) and the descendant of a long line of prominent Americans. Wickliffe Draper graduated from Harvard in 1913. When the United States was slow to enter World War I
, he enlisted in the British Army
. When the U.S. eventually declared war, he transferred to the U.S. Army.
In 1927, he participated in the French mission of Captain Augiéras to the southern Sahara that discovered the remains of “Asselar Man
”, an extinct human believed to belong to the Holocene
or Recent Epoch. Some scholars consider it the oldest known skeleton of a black African. For this, the French Société de Géographie
awarded him its 1928 Gold Medal, and in Britain he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
. After the war, he traveled and went on numerous safaris. His large New York City apartment was reportedly filled with mounted trophies.
. Although eugenics had been a popular movement in the United States during the first three decades of the 20th century, by the early 1930s popular interest had begun to fade, as the underlying science came under question. Groups like the American Eugenics Society
(AES) faced declining membership and dwindling treasuries. Draper helped ease the funding shortfall, making a special gift to the AES of several thousand dollars to support the society prior to 1932.
In August 1935, Draper traveled to Berlin to attend the International Congress for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems. Presiding over the conference was Wilhelm Frick
, the German Minister of the Interior. At the conference, Draper's travel companion, Dr. Clarence Campbell delivered an oration that concluded with the words: "The difference between the Jew and the Aryan is as unsurmountable [sic] as that between black and white. … Germany has set a pattern which other nations must follow. … To that great leader, Adolf Hitler
!" Three years later, when Draper paid to print and disseminate the book, White America, by Earnest Sevier Cox, an advocate of white supremacy and racial segregation, a personal copy was delivered to Frick.
In 1937, Draper founded the Pioneer Fund
, a foundation intended to give scholarships to descendants of white colonial-era families, and to support research into "race betterment" through eugenics. The scholarships were never given, but the first project of the fund was to distribute two documentary film
s from Nazi Germany
depicting their claimed success with eugenics. The Pioneer Fund was headed by the eugenicist, Harry H. Laughlin
, an advocate for restrictive immigration laws and national programs of compulsory sterilization
of the mentally ill and mentally retarded.
Draper volunteered for service again in World War II
, and the 50-year-old man was assigned a post with British military intelligence in India
. After the war, he returned to eugenicist and segregationist activism, and The Pioneer Fund supported the work of a number of noted and controversial researchers of race and intelligence
, including William Shockley
, Arthur Jensen
, J. Philippe Rushton
, and Roger Pearson
. Though he never served as the Pioneer Fund's president, Draper remained on its board until his death, leaving his estate to the Fund. He also donated considerable funds to right-wing political organizations and candidates, including the World Anti-Communist League
(WACL) which was later headed by Dr. Roger Pearson who had received extensive funding from The Pioneer Fund and Draper during his career at Southern Mississippi University.
In addition to The Pioneer Fund, Draper funded the Back to Africa repatriation movement
. During the civil rights
movement of the 1960s he secretly sent $255,000 to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
in 1963 and 1964 to support racial segregation
. He had also promoted opposition to the desegregation of public schools mandated by the Supreme Court
's 1954 decision, Brown v. Board of Education
. These financial contributions came to light in the 1990s, when the Sovereignty Commission records were made public. Doug A. Blackmon of the Wall Street Journal and Prof. William H. Tucker of Rutgers University
discovered the incriminating documents.
trust account and published his results on June 11, 1999 in the Wall Street Journal.http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/Institut/pioneer/silent.htm
The Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith
also received $1,000,000 in the Spring of 1964 to build his "Christ of the Ozarks" shrine and tourist attraction in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
. Smith's Cross and the Flag periodical advanced and promulgated Draper's positions and attitudes for three decades, from 1942 to 1972 when Smith died.
Draper opposed FDR's efforts to implement the Social Security Act, expanded child labor laws, and early attempts to pass the equivalent of OSHA
-styled regulations. He disliked JFK for currying favor with labor unions, for promoting civil rights advances, and for his failure to pass tariff barriers to prevent the import of foreign textiles and cotton. Draper blamed the actions of both presidents for the demise of the domestic textile industry that eventually caused the Draper Company to be dissolved by Rockwell International
as an insolvent entity. But Draper had successfully converted an ever-diminising equity in The Draper Company into a $100,000,000 windfall investment in Rockwell International Preferred Stock when Rockwell began attaining new levels of profitability as the Vietnam War
expanded. New York Times March 22, 1967 p. 61 Column 1. Rockwell acquires North American Phillips and Draper Company Rockwell International
Throughout his life, Draper maintained a low profile, as did the Pioneer Fund. When Draper died in 1972 from prostate cancer
, he left $1.4 million to the Pioneer Fund.
Draper's work has become more controversial since the publication of The Bell Curve
(1994), because the Pioneer Fund financially sponsored much of the research reported in the book. The publication of The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism (1994) by Stefan Kühl resulted in further publicity for Draper and the Fund.
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation. In 1937 he founded the Pioneer Fund
Pioneer Fund
The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences." Currently headed by psychology professor J. Philippe Rushton, the fund states that it focuses on projects it perceives will not be easily funded due to...
, a registered charitable organisation established to provide scholarships for descendants of original white American settlers and to support research into heredity and eugenics; he later became its principal benefactor.
Early life
Born in Hopedale, MassachusettsHopedale, Massachusetts
Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,911 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hopedale, please see the article Hopedale , Massachusetts....
, he was the son of George A. Draper
George A. Draper
George Albert Draper was an American textile industrialist.Draper was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts. At age 17, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied for two years...
, a wealthy textile machinery manufacturer (Draper looms
Draper Corporation
The Draper Corporation was once the largest maker of power looms for the textile industry in the United States. It operated in Hopedale, Massachusetts for over 130 years.-Beginnings:...
) and the descendant of a long line of prominent Americans. Wickliffe Draper graduated from Harvard in 1913. When the United States was slow to enter World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he enlisted in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. When the U.S. eventually declared war, he transferred to the U.S. Army.
In 1927, he participated in the French mission of Captain Augiéras to the southern Sahara that discovered the remains of “Asselar Man
Asselar man
Asselar Man is a neolithic skeleton discovered by Theodore Monod and M.V. Besnard in 1927, in the Adrar des Ifoghas, near Essouk in what is now Mali's Kidal Region...
”, an extinct human believed to belong to the Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
or Recent Epoch. Some scholars consider it the oldest known skeleton of a black African. For this, the French Société de Géographie
Société de Géographie
The Société de Géographie , is the world's oldest geographical society. It was founded in 1821 . Since 1878, its headquarters has been at 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris. The entrance is marked by two gigantic caryatids representing Land and Sea...
awarded him its 1928 Gold Medal, and in Britain he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
. After the war, he traveled and went on numerous safaris. His large New York City apartment was reportedly filled with mounted trophies.
Eugenics and the Pioneer Fund
During this time, Draper became interested in the field of eugenicsEugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. Although eugenics had been a popular movement in the United States during the first three decades of the 20th century, by the early 1930s popular interest had begun to fade, as the underlying science came under question. Groups like the American Eugenics Society
American Eugenics Society
The American Eugenics Society was a society established in 1922 to promote eugenics in the United States.It was the result of the Second International Conference on Eugenics . The founders included Madison Grant, Harry H. Laughlin, Irving Fisher, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Henry Crampton...
(AES) faced declining membership and dwindling treasuries. Draper helped ease the funding shortfall, making a special gift to the AES of several thousand dollars to support the society prior to 1932.
In August 1935, Draper traveled to Berlin to attend the International Congress for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems. Presiding over the conference was Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick was a prominent German Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed...
, the German Minister of the Interior. At the conference, Draper's travel companion, Dr. Clarence Campbell delivered an oration that concluded with the words: "The difference between the Jew and the Aryan is as unsurmountable [sic] as that between black and white. … Germany has set a pattern which other nations must follow. … To that great leader, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
!" Three years later, when Draper paid to print and disseminate the book, White America, by Earnest Sevier Cox, an advocate of white supremacy and racial segregation, a personal copy was delivered to Frick.
In 1937, Draper founded the Pioneer Fund
Pioneer Fund
The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences." Currently headed by psychology professor J. Philippe Rushton, the fund states that it focuses on projects it perceives will not be easily funded due to...
, a foundation intended to give scholarships to descendants of white colonial-era families, and to support research into "race betterment" through eugenics. The scholarships were never given, but the first project of the fund was to distribute two documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
depicting their claimed success with eugenics. The Pioneer Fund was headed by the eugenicist, Harry H. Laughlin
Harry H. Laughlin
Harry Hamilton Laughlin was a leading American eugenicist in the first half of the 20th century. He was the director of the Eugenics Record Office from its inception in 1910 to its closing in 1939, and was among the most active individuals in influencing American eugenics policy, especially...
, an advocate for restrictive immigration laws and national programs of compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization also known as forced sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization...
of the mentally ill and mentally retarded.
Draper volunteered for service again in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and the 50-year-old man was assigned a post with British military intelligence in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. After the war, he returned to eugenicist and segregationist activism, and The Pioneer Fund supported the work of a number of noted and controversial researchers of race and intelligence
Race and intelligence
The connection between race and intelligence has been a subject of debate in both popular science and academic research since the inception of intelligence testing in the early 20th century...
, including William Shockley
William Shockley
William Bradford Shockley Jr. was an American physicist and inventor. Along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, Shockley co-invented the transistor, for which all three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.Shockley's attempts to commercialize a new transistor design in the 1950s...
, Arthur Jensen
Arthur Jensen
Arthur Robert Jensen is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen is known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, which is concerned with how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another.He is a major proponent...
, J. Philippe Rushton
J. Philippe Rushton
Jean Philippe Rushton is a Canadian psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario who is most widely known for his work on racial group differences, such as research on race and intelligence, race and crime, and the application of r/K selection theory to humans in his book Race,...
, and Roger Pearson
Roger Pearson
Roger Pearson is a British anthropologist, conservationist, eugenics advocate, founder of the Neo Nazi organization Northern League, and publisher of several journals.-Life and work:...
. Though he never served as the Pioneer Fund's president, Draper remained on its board until his death, leaving his estate to the Fund. He also donated considerable funds to right-wing political organizations and candidates, including the World Anti-Communist League
World Anti-Communist League
The World League for Freedom and Democracy is an international anti-communist political organization founded in 1966 in Taipei, Republic of China , under the initiative of Chiang Kai-shek. It was founded with the aim of opposing Communism around the world through "unconventional" methods...
(WACL) which was later headed by Dr. Roger Pearson who had received extensive funding from The Pioneer Fund and Draper during his career at Southern Mississippi University.
In addition to The Pioneer Fund, Draper funded the Back to Africa repatriation movement
Back-to-Africa movement
The Back-to-Africa movement, was also known as the Colonization movement, originated in the United States in the 19th century, and encouraged those of African descent to return to the African homelands of their ancestors. This movement would eventually inspire other movements ranging from the...
. During the civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
movement of the 1960s he secretly sent $255,000 to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission
The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a state agency directed by the governor of Mississippi that existed from 1956 to 1977, also known as the Sov-Com...
in 1963 and 1964 to support racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. He had also promoted opposition to the desegregation of public schools mandated by the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
's 1954 decision, Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
. These financial contributions came to light in the 1990s, when the Sovereignty Commission records were made public. Doug A. Blackmon of the Wall Street Journal and Prof. William H. Tucker of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
discovered the incriminating documents.
Funding of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
Draper was one of the primary out-of-state benefactors of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission (MSC) during 1963 and 1964. Attorney John Satterfield of the MSC identified Draper's contributions, totaling over $250,000 as originating from "The Wall Street Gang" from the North. Doug Blackmon of the Wall Street Journal uncovered evidence of these contributions via Draper's J. P. MorganJ. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
trust account and published his results on June 11, 1999 in the Wall Street Journal.http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/Institut/pioneer/silent.htm
The Reverend Gerald L. K. Smith
Gerald L. K. Smith
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was an American clergyman and political organizer, who became a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression and later the Christian Nationalist Crusade...
also received $1,000,000 in the Spring of 1964 to build his "Christ of the Ozarks" shrine and tourist attraction in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States. Along with Berryville, it is one of the two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 2,350...
. Smith's Cross and the Flag periodical advanced and promulgated Draper's positions and attitudes for three decades, from 1942 to 1972 when Smith died.
Draper opposed FDR's efforts to implement the Social Security Act, expanded child labor laws, and early attempts to pass the equivalent of OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
-styled regulations. He disliked JFK for currying favor with labor unions, for promoting civil rights advances, and for his failure to pass tariff barriers to prevent the import of foreign textiles and cotton. Draper blamed the actions of both presidents for the demise of the domestic textile industry that eventually caused the Draper Company to be dissolved by Rockwell International
Rockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation....
as an insolvent entity. But Draper had successfully converted an ever-diminising equity in The Draper Company into a $100,000,000 windfall investment in Rockwell International Preferred Stock when Rockwell began attaining new levels of profitability as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
expanded. New York Times March 22, 1967 p. 61 Column 1. Rockwell acquires North American Phillips and Draper Company Rockwell International
Rockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, automotive and truck components, printing presses, valves and meters, and industrial automation....
Later life and personality
The Pioneer Fund described Draper as:By nature introverted, shy, and modest, Draper refused honorary doctorates or having university buildings named in his honor. The only distinctions he accepted were for his role in the discovery of Asselar ManAsselar manAsselar Man is a neolithic skeleton discovered by Theodore Monod and M.V. Besnard in 1927, in the Adrar des Ifoghas, near Essouk in what is now Mali's Kidal Region...
and his military decorations. Draper insisted that his role as benefactor to many charitable causes (including military history, archaeology, conservation, and population problems) remain anonymous. He never married and when he died in 1972, he left a significant portion of his assets to the Pioneer Fund to continue its scientific philanthropy.
Throughout his life, Draper maintained a low profile, as did the Pioneer Fund. When Draper died in 1972 from prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, he left $1.4 million to the Pioneer Fund.
Draper's work has become more controversial since the publication of The Bell Curve
The Bell Curve
The Bell Curve is a best-selling and controversial 1994 book by the Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray...
(1994), because the Pioneer Fund financially sponsored much of the research reported in the book. The publication of The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism (1994) by Stefan Kühl resulted in further publicity for Draper and the Fund.
External links
- Selected writings by Harry Weyher, former Pioneer Fund president
- Institute for the Study of Academic Racism: Pioneer Fund
- "The Tainted Sources of 'The Bell Curve'"
- Metcalf, Stephen. "Moral Courage: Is defending The Bell Curve an example of intellectual honesty?" Slate, October 17, 2005
- Blackmon, Douglas A. "Silent Partner: How the South's Fight To Uphold Segregation Was Funded Up North," Institute for the Study of Academic Racism.
- Lichtenstein, Grace. 'Fund Backs Controversial Study of "Racial Betterment"', reprinted from The New York Times, December 11, 1977.
- Reckert, Clare M. DRAPER APPROVES BID BY ROCKWELL; In Surprise Move, Board Backs Improved Offer - Indian Head Talks Off Acquisitions and Combinations Are Planned by Corporations, reprinted from The New York Times, March 28, 1967.