Rufus B. von KleinSmid

Life and career Von KleinSmid was born and grew up in Sandwich, Illinois. His family was of Dutch descent. He earned a BA and MA at Northwestern University, graduating in 1905.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 brought the United States into World War II. During the war, army barracks were constructed on the USC campus and some buildings were taken over for military use. The curriculum reflected a wartime emphasis on international relations, history, geography, languages, science and the like. Some 2,000 military trainees added to crowded conditions on campus.

After the war, the lack of space at USC grew even worse, as the G.I. Bill enabled numerous veterans to study at the university. Enrollment soared from 15,500 in 1945 to more than 24,000 in 1947.

In 1947 KleinSmid, then aged 70, elected to step down and became USC's chancellor. He held this position for the remaining seventeen years of his life.

KleinSmid died on July 9, 1964.

Legacy A passionate supporter of eugenics, which he described as "the science of good birth", and related sterilization programs, KleinSmid co-founded the Human Betterment Foundation. In 1913, he argued that "the acceptance is even now upon us, and the application of the principles of Eugenics to organized society is one of the most important duties of the social scientist of the present generation."

From 1942 until the end of his life, von KleinSmid became excessively racist and refused to allow Americans of Japanese descent to complete their studies at USC, receive diplomas, or to obtain official transcripts that would allow those students to transfer to other American educational institutions to complete their education. His actions were in sharp contrast to the actions taken by the presidents Robert Sproull of the University of California and Lee Paul Sieg of the University of Washington.

On June 10, 2020, USC decided to remove von KleinSmid's name from one of its most prominent buildings, the von KleinSmid Center for International and Public Affairs.