Wickliffe Preston Draper (August 9, 1891 – 1972) was an American political activist. He was an ardent eugenicist and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation. In 1937, he founded the Pioneer Fund for eugenics and heredity research; he later became its principal benefactor. Early life and education Draper was born on August 9, 1891, in Hopedale, Massachusetts. He was the son and heir of Jessie Fremont Preston Draper, daughter of Confederate Brigadier General William Preston III, who had served as the United States Ambassador to Spain, until the American Civil War and George A. Draper, owner of Draper Looms textile and textile machinery manufacturers, who descended from generations of prominent Americans. He attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts. Draper graduated from Harvard University in 1913. When the United States was slow to enter World War I, he enlisted in the British Army. When the U.S. eventually declared war, he transferred to the U.S. Army. Post-War In 1924, Draper established the Draper Armor Leadership Award, as a means to competitively test the leadership of small Cavalry units in the US Army. The test was oriented to the platoon level of Horse Cavalry. The first Cavalry Leadership Test for small units was held at Fort Riley, Kansas—then home of the Cavalry School. In 1928, Lieutenant Commander Draper established a trust fund of $35,000 to perpetuate the award. In 1927, he participated in the French mission of Captain Marcel Augiéras to the southern Sahara that discovered the remains of "Asselar man", an extinct human believed to belong to the Holocene or Recent Epoch. Some scholars consider it the oldest known skeleton of a black African. The French Société de Géographie subsequently awarded him its 1932 gold medal, the Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations and, in Britain, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. After the war, he traveled and went on numerous safaris. His large New York City apartment was reportedly filled with mounted trophies. Eugenics and the Pioneer Fund During this time, Draper became interested in eugenics. Although eugenics had been a popular movement in the United States during the first three decades of the 20th century, by the early 1930s interest had begun to fade as the underlying science came under question. Groups like the American Eugenics Society (AES) faced declining membership and dwindling treasuries. Draper helped ease the funding shortfall, making a special gift to the