[2] After teaching for a short time at Northwestern, he moved to DePauw University, where he became a professor of education and psychology.

Von KleinSmid also presided over a building program that added nine major structures to the university campus.

During the 1930s, Prince Iyesato Tokugawa worked with USC to encourage student foreign exchange programs between the U.S. and Japan.

During the prince's 1934 visit to the United States, von KleinSmid bestowed an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon him for his philanthropic and educational achievements.

In 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the university and also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

[5][6] The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 brought the United States into World War II.

[2] A passionate supporter of eugenics, which he described as "the science of good birth",[9] and related sterilization programs,[10][11] KleinSmid co-founded the Human Betterment Foundation.

In 1913, he argued that "the acceptance is even now upon us, and the application of the principles of Eugenics to organized society is one of the most important duties of the social scientist of the present generation.