John Tanton

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John H. Tanton, M.D. is a retired eye surgeon from Petoskey, Michigan, the founder of U.S. English, the founding chairman of ProEnglish, and publisher of The Social Contract Press, serving as editor for its first eight years. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and University of Michigan Medical School.

Tanton considers himself an ardent conservationist and advocate for the environment. His belief that continued human population growth was a large part of world environmental problems led him to chair the National Sierra Club Population Committee (1971-1974), and to the national board of Zero Population Growth (1973-1978, including a term as president, 1975-1977).

In 1979, as immigration became the primary source of U.S. population growth, Tanton organized the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) based in Washington, D.C. Tanton also founded, along with a few other FAIR board members, a group called WITAN -- short for the Old English term "witenagemot," meaning "council of wise men."

John Tanton is co-author with Wayne Lutton of The Immigration Invasion, and has written numerous editorials and opinion pieces including End of the Migration Epoch.

[edit] Resignation from U.S. English

In 1986, Tanton signed a memo that went to WITAN members that some believed went too far in its characterization of Hispanics.

The memo charged that Latin American immigrants brought a culture of political corruption with them to the United States, and that they were unlikely to involve themselves in civil life. He raised the alarm that they could become the majority group in U.S. society. He asked: "Can homo contraceptivus compete with homo progenativa?"

Answering his own rhetorical question, Tanton wrote that "perhaps this is the first instance in which those with their pants up are going to get caught by those with their pants down!...As whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?"

According to Tanton, "In California 2030, the non-Hispanic Whites and Asians will own the property, have the good jobs and education, speak one language and be mostly Protestant and 'other.' The Blacks and Hispanics will have the poor jobs, will lack education, own little property, speak another language and will be mainly Catholic."

Furthermore, Tanton raised concerns about the "educability" of Hispanics. In 1988, the media published this Tanton memo, which caused a number of former supporters of U.S. English to cut ties with the organization, including Walter Cronkite and eventually its director Linda Chavez, who went on to become an analyst with the Center for Equal Opportunity. John Tanton would also resign from U.S. English over the controversy.

[edit] References

Mary Lou and John Tanton: A Journey into American Conservation by John F. Rohe (ISBN 0-9710079-0-X)
Memo to WITAN IV Attendees from John Tanton Southern Poverty Law Center