Birth Control Organizations > World Population Emergency Campaign
History
The World Population Emergency Campaign (WPEC), a private organization administered by the International PlannedParenthood Federation (IPPF), was set up for the purpose of alerting Americans to the danger of the "world population explosion" and raising money for international birth control programs. Its founding conference held on March 20, 1960 in Princeton, N. J. was organized by Hugh Moore, founder of the Dixie Cup Corporation and an IPPF council member, and by
General William H. Draper Jr., whose well-publicized 1959 presidential report recommended that the federal government assist
nations seeking to control their population growth.
With the use of the slogan, "Not just another cause, but the problem of our time," WPEC worked to publicize the potential
perils arising from rapid world population growth. Through advertisements in the New York Times, meetings with business
leaders in various cities, and mass mailings signed respectively by Margaret Sanger and novelist, James A. Michener, WPEC
also worked to raise funds for IPPF--Western Hemisphere Region projects. Through the IPPF--Western Hemisphere Region's Allocation Committee, the WPEC funds were distributed to such organizations as the Family Planning Association of India for a
mobile field clinic; the IPPF Far Eastern Region for the training of Indonesian doctors; and the Margaret Sanger Research
Bureau in New York City for free distribution abroad of birth control literature and devices.
Margaret Sanger was not involved with the daily activities of the WPEC; rather her primary role was as a fund-raiser. In addition to lending her name to its mass mailings, she counseled the leadership of WPEC on fund-raising strategies and public relations. Drafts of proposed form letters reveal her efforts to diminish the WPEC's attempts to appeal to Americans' fears of "communist exploitation" in overpopulated countries. WPEC's largest fund-raising event was the Margaret Sanger World Tribute held in New York City on May 11-12, 1961, the 45th anniversary of Sanger's opening of the Brownsville Clinic. With this conference and dinner chaired by Sir Julian Huxley, the Tribute fund immediately exceeded its $100,000 goal. Sanger's attendance was her last major public appearance.
WPEC operated independently for just over a year before it agreed to a merger with the Planned Parenthood Federation ofAmerica (PPFA) in the fall of 1961. Although the PPFA added WPEC to its name and invited Campaign members to serve on its board, the merger had little effect on PPFA operations, save that it increased the funds available for PPFA's international efforts in conjunction with IPPF. It was, however, a short-lived enterprise; by 1963, PPFA dropped WPEC from its official name.
Organizational Structure and Committees:
Margaret Sanger Tribute Committee:
Consisted of Steering Committee members who organized the World Tribute to honor Sanger in 1961.
National Committee:
Composed of the original members of the Steering Committee along with prominent donors.
Projects Committee (Projects and Allocations Committee):
Comprised of members of the Steering Committee, the Projects Committee evaluated requests for funds submitted to the WPEC before they were brought before the Steering Committee.
Steering Committee:
Consisted of a chair, 3 vice-chairs, a treasurer, and a secretary. The Steering Committee oversaw the operation of
WPEC, and was primarily concerned with fund-raising and public relations.
Other committees included Budget and Finance and Fund-raising.
WPEC Officers and Committee Members:
Babbott Jr., Frank L. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Barton, Bruce - Convener of founding conference; Steering Committee; National Committee
Bennett, Russell H. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Boushall, Thomas C. - National Committee
Brooke, Joel I. - Steering Committee
Brown, Harrison - Convener of founding conference; Steering Committee; National Committee
Brush, Dorothy Hamilton - Steering Committee; National Committee
Bullitt, John C. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Burdick, C. Lalor - Steering Committee; National Committee
Cabot, Henry B. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Cadbury, George W. - Steering Committee
Cake, Wallace Ellwood - Steering Committee; National Committee
Canfield, Jane - Steering Committee; National Committee
Clayton, Will - Convener of founding conference; Vice-Chair of National Committee
Compton, Dorothy D. - Steering Committee
Copeland, Lammot DuPont - Convener of founding conference; Chair of Steering Committee; Co-Chair of National
Committee
Crabtree, James A. - National Committee
Davis, Kingsley - Steering Committee; National Committee
Davis, Matthew D. - National Committee
Day Jr., Rufus S. - Treasurer of Steering Committee; Treasurer of National Committee
Dickey, Harry S. - National Committee
Dorr, John V. N. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Draper Jr., William H. - Convener of founding conference; Vice-Chair of Steering Committee; Co-Chair of National
Committee
Dullitt, John - Steering Committee
Duncan, Alexander E. - National Committee
Eccles, Marriner Stoddard - National Committee
Edison, Mrs. Theodore - Steering Committee
Edison, Theodore - Steering Committee
Ferguson, Frances Hand - Steering Committee; National Committee
French, Graham - Steering Committee; National Committee
Griessemer, Thomas O. - Secretary of Steering Committee; Secretary of National Committee
Harnischfeger, W. H. - National Committee
Hauser, Phillip M. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Hayward, Sam T. - National Committee
Hazard, Leland - National Committee
Heffelfinger, F. Peavy - Vice-Chair of Steering Committee; National Committee
Heffelfinger, Mrs. F. Peavy - National Committee
Hoagland, Hudson - National Committee
Hopkins, Prynce - Steering Committee; National Committee
Johnson, Joseph E. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Knapp, Sherman R. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Kyle, Richard S. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Lamont, Thomas S. - National Committee
Land, James N. Sr. - Steering Committee
Livingston Jr., Goodhue - Steering Committee
Lloyd, Glen A. - National Committee
Marts, Arnaud - Steering Committee; National Committee
McClintock, Mrs. Harvey - Steering Committee
McCormick, Fowler - National Committee
McCracken, Robert T. - Steering Committee; National Committee
McKee, Frederick C. - Steering Committee
McIntryre, Bernard G. - Associate campaign director; consultant to Steering Committee
Michener, James A. - Steering Committee; National Committee>
Moore, Hugh - Convener; Vice-Chair of Steering Committee; Chair of Steering Committee after National Committee
formed
Morain, Lloyd L. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Mudd, Stuart - National Committee
Neutra, Richard J. - National Committee
Norman, Dorothy S. - National Committee
Nuveen, John - Vice-Chair of Steering Committee; Vice-Chair of National Committee; member of Budget and Finance
Committee
Oram, Harold L. - Campaign director; consultant to Steering Committee
Pillsbury, Eleanor Bellows - Steering Committee; National Committee
Prentice, Rockefeller - National Committee
Richter, Mrs. Stanley L. - Steering Committee
Royce, Donald - National Committee
Sanger, Margaret - Steering Committee; National Committee
Schockley, William - National Committee
Scripps, Charles E. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Senior, Clarence - Steering Committee
Smith, Ralph Lee - Consultant to Steering Committee
Spencer, Harold B. - Consultant to Steering Committee
Stebbins, Ernest L. - National Committee
Swensrud, Sidney A. - National Committee
Vanderbilt, William H. - Steering Committee; National Committee
Watumull, Ellen Jensen - Steering Committee
Weir, Roslyn C. - National Committee
Sources
The Smith College Collections Series includes WPEC minutes, organizational memos, publications, reports, and form letters drawn from an incomplete set of records of the WPEC (1960-1961) located among Sanger's papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. The Library of Congress microfilm does not contain any WPEC records and very little documentation on PPFA after 1956. The Collected Documents Series contains scattered material concerning the WPEC, including correspondence with WPEC organizer Hugh Moore.
For other organizations involved with the WPEC, see:
IPPF--WHR for records related to the establishment of WPEC
PPFA for records related to the 1961 merger and for records of the resulting organization, PPFA--WPEC
For tribute sponsored by the WPEC, see:
1961 - World Tribute to Margaret Sanger
Cover of the 1961 World Tribute, courtesy of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project.
Revised: September 22, 2005