This paper investigates modern lessons offered by Cyril Kornbluth’s 1951 dystopian short story, The Marching Morons. Beyond traditional ideas about ways in which The Marching Morons reflects Kornbluth’s own era, or Kornbluth himself, this paper demonstrates how the short story clearly reveals the continued durability, into postwar years, of paternalistic themes regarding scientific eugenics in American popular culture.
The story centers on a charismatic confidence man who made his fortune in real estate. He awakens from suspended animation in the future, when the world is experiencing a shortage of intelligent people. The ‘elite’ whom he meets blame their current population problem on previous generations for not procreating enough, while allowing less intelligent people to reproduce without limitation. In exchange for promises of great power for himself, the con-man offers to devise a plan for the elite to rid themselves of their ‘morons’ through a eugenic deportation program.
This paper examines the short story through a cultural studies lens and highlights its echoes in the nature of contemporary political fearmongering, founded upon eugenic principles, which is aimed at immigrants for the presumed benefit of other members of society. It not only presents the eerie similarities between the 1951 story’s main character and the current occupant of the White House, it also dissects and connects the not-so-subtle eugenic overtures in Trump’s speeches and tweets during and since the campaign. The project offers particular insight into contemporary discussions about the treatment of immigrants in modern American society.
Keywords: eugenics, immigration, politics
About the presenterKimberlee Neitz
Kim is a PhD candidate in American Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, where she earned her master’s degree — also in American Studies. She holds undergraduate degrees in political science from Temple University and education from Bloomsburg State University of Pennsylvania. Kim’s research interests include modern electoral history, small-town rural cultural history, and literary and popular culture.