Unfit Quotes
This statement was suppressed by the Nixon family until 2007 when it and other tapes of telephone calls were finally released to the public. Nixon won the election handily and yet was very angered at his opponent. The “irresponsibility” to which Nixon referred was McGovern raising the issue of the Nixon’s handling of the Vietnam War. See {583772} for McGovern’s reaction when he heard this for the first time more than 40 years after the fact.
Most historians agree with Harding that he was not qualified for the job. And he personally did not have any great ambition to be president. He was a very affable man who spent much of his time drinking, playing cards, and having women entertain with his political buddies. His wife however, was a very accomplished and powerful newspaper publisher and she insisted that he run and he won. He continued his entertainment with his cronies and was a very weak president.
This quote was the beginning of the now discredited Eugenics movement. The essential problems were twofold: One was that someone had to decide which characteristics were desirable and undesirable, and there is wide difference of opinion that there is no way of resolving. Genocide is the result of Eugenics taken to extremes. Second, it the issue of human rights. No person, organization, or government has the right to tell a particular individual what genetic characteristics he/she may have with his/her children. Note that the issue of Population Control for size was also a part of the early Eugenics movement but is a totally separate issue. It is the voluntary verses the compulsory nature of Population control the is the critical ethical element.
