The John Batchelor Show

Saturday 13 August 2016

Air Date: 
August 13, 2016

Photo, left:  Eugenics in the United States: Carrie and Emma Buck, taken by Arthur Estabrook, Nov. 17, 1924. From eugenicsarchive.org.  Of all the disgraceful rulings the Supreme Court has made in its 227-year history — and the lowlight reel is fairly lengthy — the decision in Buck v. Bell still stands out as one of the ugliest. The case may not be as well known as, for instance, Dred Scott v. Sandford, which denied African-Americans citizenship. But in just five paragraphs, the court upheld a statute that enabled the State of Virginia to sterilize “mental defectives” — specifically one Carrie Buck, a young resident of the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded.
The year was 1927. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote the 8-to-1 majority opinion. The penultimate paragraph concludes with one of the most notorious epigrams of American law: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block A:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (1 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (2 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block C:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (3 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (4 of 4)
 
 
Hour Two
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, by Adam Cohen  (1 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, by Adam Cohen  (2 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:   Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, by Adam Cohen  (3 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck, by Adam Cohen  (4 of 4)
 
Hour Three
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:   The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, by Julian E. Zelizer  (1 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:   The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, by Julian E. Zelizer  (2 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:   The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, by Julian E. Zelizer  (3 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, by Julian E. Zelizer  (4 of 4)
 
Hour Four
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (1 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (2 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (3 of 4)
Saturday 12 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:  The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation, by James Donovan  (4 of 4)