Career
He was a sociologist who was actively involved in many of the controversial issues of his time. He wrote about race relations, abortion and contraception, and immigration. He was involved with the founding of Planned Parenthood and served as President to the American Eugenics Society.
Fairchild was born in Dundee, Illinois.
Fairchild grew up in Crete, Nebraska, where his father was professor at Doane College. Fairchild attended Doane (Bachelor of Arts, 1900) and Yale University (Doctor of Philosophy, 1909).
He also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Doane in 1930. Education and Early Teaching at Bowdoin.
Organizer and Professor
Fairchild was president of the Population Association of America from 1931-1935(?).
He was president of the American Sociological Society in 1936. He was active with Margaret Sanger in founding Planned Parenthood. Fairchild’s major teaching appointment was at New York University.
He served for 26 years, from 1919 until his retirement in 1945, and became chairman of the Department of Sociology in the Graduate School.