“All the world loves a baby.” The sign outside Dr. Martin Couney’s baby sideshow proclaimed the wonder of his display, but in a way, it also reflected Dr. Couney’s plea for the statement to be true. Years earlier, as the twentieth century began, two differing philosophies swept across the Atlantic Ocean. The eugenics movement came to the United States in the early 1900’s hoping to better humanity’s future through the careful control of the transmission of genes. In the same years, a mysterious Dr. Martin Couney travelled across the ocean bringing with him his own ideas about bettering the future of the human race. Through his displays of premature babies at different world fairs and amusement parks across the country, Dr. Couney was able to sway American opinion about the value of the lives of its tiniest citizens. His efforts stood in sharp contrast with the philosophies espoused by the eugenics movement which feared the spread of genetic defects in those who had any medical complications, including a premature birth. Dr. Couney, and his babies who should not have lived, helped to change the public and medical opinion of the viability and humanity of those born too soon, all in the face of the American eugenics’ movement that purported that such babies should not even be given a chance at life.