In 1974, President Richard Nixon ordered his national security council, under the direction of Henry Kissinger, to study the implications of population growth to the interests of the United States and propose action. This classified study was called NSSM-200. The study was concluded later that year, but Nixon was otherwise occupied, and did not act on the study. His replacement, Gerald Ford, would direct his administration to implement the memo. Upon its declassification a little over a decade later, a stunned world learned that the United States government had specifically targeted the world...