University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2017 Buy for the Sake of your Baby: Guardian Consumerism in Twentieth Century America Mark VanDriel University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation VanDriel, M.(2017). Buy for the Sake of your Baby: Guardian Consumerism in Twentieth Century America. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4226 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BUY FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR BABY: GUARDIAN CONSUMERISM IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA by Mark VanDriel Bachelor of Arts University of Northern Colorado, 2009 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2017 Accepted by: Marjorie J. Spruill, Major Professor Kent Germany, Committee Member Deanne Messias, Committee Member Joseph November, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Mark VanDriel, 2017 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To Eliana VanDriel iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was introduced to the study of history by taking on the major as a transfer student to a new university with the intention of finishing a program in a single academic year. The condensed nature of this program blessed me by intense introductions to passionate historians who shared their craft with me. Steven Seegel, Aaron Haberman, Joan Clinefelter, and Marshall Clough at the University of Northern Colorado were magnificent inspirations and educators. I am especially grateful to Steven for his hard realism and tough talks about the challenges of academia. I was well warned and prepared for all of the unpleasant parts of graduate school, an exceptional courtesy he certainly did not need to provide. At the University of South Carolina, I am particularly grateful to Andrew Berns, Tom Lekan, Adam Schor, Lauren Sklaroff, Saskia Cohen Snyder, and Laura Woliver for fostering my intellectual development. My dissertation was completed due to the patient guidance of a wonderful committee of historians. Marjorie Spruill provided direction and patient editing and went beyond the call of duty to help me better explore a topic that at times seemed far too ambitious. Joseph November, Kent Germany, and Deanne Messias advised me throughout the research and writing process. I have a particular debt to Lawrence Glickman, who patiently helped me explore my broad interests in families, babies, and population. His passion for consumer studies iv cultivated my own, and he provided invaluable early advice and encouragement as this project developed. My first communication from the University of South Carolina came from a letter from the late Ann Johnson. She was also the first person I met in person at the university, the person who convinced me to attend USC, and she provided invaluable early career and teaching advice. She was a model ambassador for higher education in the humanities, a caring teacher and a kind friend. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from her. This project required many different kinds of historical research, and I received the assistance of some wonderful researchers along the way. The reference and Interlibrary loan staff at Thomas Cooper Library provided invaluable aid. I am especially grateful to Bill Sudduth for assistance navigating government documents. At the USC Library Annex, James E Weeks Jr provided exceptional help to my requests for series of old magazines and space in which to study them. The staff at Syracuse University Libraries was patient and prompt in responding to my numerous requests. I appreciate archival assistance at the National Museum of American History, the American Philosophical Society, The University of Illinois, and Depaul University. I am particularly grateful to Charles Greifenstein for allowing me to conduct research with pre-processed archival material. Robert Allen provided helpful assistance with the history of Fort Lewis. Casey Anis provided helpful answers and context on constitutional law. A project that is about conventional wisdom cannot be written without nearly endless outside input. I am extraordinarily grateful to the friends and family who put up v with my pestering questions, provided invaluable insight about society, and made challenging suggestions. I especially thank Michelle Watkinson, John Deneen, Alzbeta Volk, Daniel Volk, John Volk, Steve Monroney, and Lara Nield. My brother Matt VanDriel and his wife Josie provided many patient answers to my questions about the legal profession and politics. My parents, Bryan and Marcia VanDriel, put up with far too many long drawn out explanations from me, patiently read over incomprehensible drafts, and gave kind encouragement and keen insight. Conversations in 2010 with Andy Peterson and his mother Dorothy Peterson inspired me to think much harder about what normative parenting is, and how the American culture established these norms. I have barely scratched the surface of the history they have inspired me to try and tell, so I suspect I will end up owing most of my entire career to their insight. I was blessed to have many wonderful friends and colleagues to ease the journey through graduate school. I thank Matt Fink, Megan Bennett, Carter Bruns, Robert Greene, Evan Kutzler, Kaitlin Mans, Tim Minella, Rochelle Outlaw, Randall Owens, James Risk, Jennifer Taylor, Ali Nabours, and Chaz Yingling for their friendship, collegiality, and solidarity that made my years at USC some of the best of my life. I did not expect at the beginning of graduate school to end it with new friends like I have found in Katherine McFadden and Erin Holmes. They provided six years of hilarity, sanity checks, and solidarity. I am proud that they were present for the most embarrassing moments of my life. They have consistently provided helpful feedback on matters both academic and personal. I am happy to call them the best of friends. I know they will both have illustrious careers, and cannot wait to see what lies in store. vi I originally planned to finish this dissertation before starting my family, so that I would have a finished product that I could then reconsider after having had children of my own. I am grateful every day to my daughter Eliana that I did not stick with the plan. I am also grateful to Lori Vann, Janie Campbell, Rebecca Tucker, Carrie Kerfonta, Allison Kretchmar and Andy Kretchmar for watching Eliana so I had time to finish this project. My delightful wife Erika made this entire process possible. She provided endless support, kindness and encouragement throughout the writing process. She tolerated long separations for research and many days of acting like a single parent due to this project. Thank you for every single day we have shared together. vii ABSTRACT “Buy For the Sake of Your Baby” argues that consumerism for infants in twentieth century America was an exceptional type of consumer society. Because the parents who bought the consumer goods could not effectively communicate with their children who used these products, parents frequently purchased items for their babies as acts of good parenting. These parent consumers wanted to do what was right for their children, but because they could not effectively communicate with their children, they were particularly susceptible to influence from outside groups. Businesses, non- governmental organizations, and the federal government recognized throughout the twentieth century how to effectively sell to these concerned parents. By doing this they created new marketing paradigms. Through thematic examinations over time of advice to parents, nutrition for infants, safety in automobiles, and attempts to adjust the genetic materials of infants through eugenic efforts, I demonstrate the growth and contours of this unique consumer activity. The increased role of experts in parental education and parenting decisions, along with American ambivalence about the government mandating what they do with their families, establish the foundation of this work. Using influential parenting sources such as Dr. Benjamin Spock and the La Leche League, as well as advertising materials from across the nation, my dissertation explains how becoming a new parent developed into an exceptional American consumer activity during the twentieth century. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2 ADVICE ............................................................................................................13