History of Camp Gag-a-Hoe

Camp Gag-a-Hoe has a long, thick and varied history, much like the campers who call it their summer home away from home.

Founding: 1944 - 1950
In the dying days of the Second World War, scientist Alvar von Humperdinck noticed an alarming statistic: Over 250 000 American soldiers, all of them men, the majority between the ages of 18 and 35, had already died in the war, and more were sure to follow.

von Humperdinck, a German national brought over to the States in a precursor to Operation Paperclip, feared that this loss of men of prime breeding age would have a catastrophic effect on the population growth of his new home country.

In order to ensure that the United States maintained population growth on par with both its enemies and its allies, he was determined to arrive at a solution. On the 23 May 1944, von Humperdinck presented a potential program to the Senate Subcommittee on Civilian Affairs.

His initial idea was immediately distasteful to the statesmen present: a training camp for young men between the ages of 13 and 21 who had been selected for certain attributes "not least fertility, strength, and other examples of desirable traits". At these camps, men would undergo regular exercise, training, diets, and education, with a strict focus on breeding "the next generation of Americans".

von Humperdinck's outlined plan was too similar to the prevailing German attitudes on Eugenics, and it was immediately voted down and discarded as a workable proposal. However, it did catch the attention of one member present, Senator Joe Bishop (R - Utah) who later approached von Humperdinck with a proposal of his own.