Last updated on: 2/2/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Charles Potter Biography

Title:
Founder of the Euthanasia Society of America
Position:
Pro to the question "Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?"
Reasoning:

“Euthanasia, or merciful release from suffering…is rapidly emerging from the stage when it was considered merely the obsession of a few left-wing social reformers to the period when it is being recognized as an important social measure in the same class with birth control and eugenics.”

Speech by Charles Potter at the Second Annual Meeting of the Euthanasia Society of America, in Ian Dowbiggin’s “‘A Rational Coalition’: Euthanasia, Eugenics, and Birth Control in America, 1940-1970,” Journal of Policy History, 2002
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to end-of-life issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to end-of-life.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Founder, Euthanasia Society of America, 1938
  • Founder, First Humanist Society of New York, 1929
  • Unitarian Minister, 1916-1929
  • Professor of Comparative Religion, Antioch College, 1925-1927
  • Librarian and Bible expert for Clarence Darrow during the Scopes evolution trial in Dayton, Tennessee, 1925
  • Baptist Preacher, 1902-1916
Education:
  • STM, Newton Theological Seminary, 1917
  • MA, Bucknell Univeristy, 1916
  • BD, Newton Theological Seminary, 1908
  • BA, Bucknell University, 1907
Other:
  • None found