The Guarded Gate：Patricians, Eugenicists, and the Crusade to Keep Jews, Italians, and Other Immigrants Out of America

Aforgotten,darkchapterofAmericanhistorywithimplicationsforthecurrentday,TheGuardedGatetellsthestoryofthescientistswhoarguedthatcertainnationalitieswereinherentlyinferior,providingtheintellectualjustificationfortheharshestimmigrationlawinAmericanhistory.BrandishedbytheupperclassBostoniansandNewYorkers—manyofthemprogressives—wholedtheanti-immigrationmovement,theeugenicargumentshelpedkeephundredsofthousandsofJews,Italians,andotherunwantedgroupsoutoftheUSformorethan40years.Overfiveyearsinthewriting,TheGuardedGatetellsthecompletestoryfromitsbeginningin1895,whenHenryCabotLodgeandotherBostonBrahminslaunchedtheiranti-immigrantcampaign.In1921,VicePresidentCalvinCoolidgedeclaredthat“biologicallaws”hadproventheinferiorityofsouthernandeasternEuropeans;therestrictivelawwasenactedthreeyearslater.Inhischaracteristicstyle,bothlivelyandauthoritative,Okrentbringstolifetherichcastofcharactersfromthistime,includingLodge’sclosestfriend,TheodoreRoosevelt;CharlesDarwin’sfirstcousin,FrancisGalton,theidiosyncraticpolymathwhogavelifetoeugenics;thefabulouslywealthyandprofoundlybigotedMadisonGrant,founderoftheBronxZoo,andhisbestfriend,H.FairfieldOsborn,directoroftheAmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory;MargaretSanger,whosaweugenicsasasensibleadjuncttoherbirthcontrolcampaign;andMaxwellPerkins,thecelebratededitorofHemingwayandFitzgerald.Aworkofhistoryrelevantfortoday,TheGuardedGateisanimportant,insightfultalethatpainstakinglyconnectstheAmericaneugeniciststotheriseofNazism,andshowshowtheirbeliefsfoundfertilesoilinthemindsofcitizensandleadersbothhereandabroad.