John Hamilton Tanton (February 23, 1934 – July 16, 2019) was an American

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

and anti-immigration activist. He was the founder and first chairman of the

Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non profit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immig ...

(FAIR), an anti-immigration organization. He was the co-founder of the

Center for Immigration Studies The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an anti-immigration think tank and a SPLC designated hate group. It favors far lower immigration numbers, and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graha ...

, an anti-immigration think tank; and

NumbersUSA NumbersUSA is an anti-immigrationExplaining 'Chain Migration'

, an anti-immigration lobbying group. He was chairman of U.S. English and

ProEnglish ProEnglish is an American nonprofit lobbying organization that is part of the English-only movement.Domenico MaceriMultilingualism: Americans are embracing Spanish ''International Herald Tribune'' (June 24, 2003). The group supports making Englis ...

. He was briefly President of

Zero Population Growth Zero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG, is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines; that is, the number of births plus in-migrants equals the number of death ...

. He was the founder of

The Social Contract Press The Social Contract Press (SCP) is an American publisher of white nationalist and anti-immigrant literature. It is a program of U.S. Inc., a foundation formed by John Tanton, who was called by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) "the racist fou ...

, which published a quarterly journal of nativist and white nationalist writers called ''The Social Contract'' until Fall 2019. He founded the pro-

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

organization Society for Genetic Education.

Early life

Tanton was born in 1934 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. In 1945, he moved with his family to a farm northeast of

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

, on which his mother had been raised and on which he worked. Tanton graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in 1956, received an M.D. from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1960, and received an M.S. in ophthalmology from the University of Michigan in 1964.

Career

Tanton ran an

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

practice in Petoskey, Michigan.

Political advocacy

Tanton was an anti-immigration activist. He was the founder and patron of many anti-immigration non-profit organizations, including

. By 2019, six anti-immigrant groups founded by Tanton were designated as hate groups by the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

. Earlier in his advocacy career, he founded the Petoskey chapter of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

and became an active member and then president of

in 1975. Unable to secure support from colleagues in these groups to limit immigration, in 1979 he founded the non-profit

(FAIR) with early support from

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...

and

Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

, with the promise that it would be "centrist/liberal in political orientation". In 1983, he co-founded U.S. English with former United States Senator S. I. Hayakawa to advocate for making English the official language of the United States. Additionally, Tanton co-founded and was heavily involved in the

(CIS), Numbers USA, the

American Immigration Control Foundation American Immigration Control Foundation (AIC Foundation) is an American political group that campaigns to reduce immigration to the United States, particularly from developing countries and countries in Central and South America. It is a large publ ...

, American Patrol/ Voices of Citizens Together,

Californians for Population Stabilization Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) is a non-profit California organization founded in 1986 which works to "preserve California's future through the stabilization of our state's human population". CAPS was the former Californian branch ...

, and ProjectUSA. Donations flow through U.S. Inc., which also supports Scenic Michigan, the

International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...

, the Foreign Policy Association's ''Great Decisions'' Series, and the

Harbor Springs Harbor Springs is a city and resort community in Emmet County, Michigan. The population was 1,194 in the 2010 census. Harbor Springs is in a sheltered bay on the north shore of the Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The Little Traverse Li ...

chapter of the North Country Trail Association. Tanton served on the Board of Population-Environment Balance. Tanton founded the

Social Contract Press The Social Contract Press (SCP) is an American publisher of white nationalist and anti-immigrant literature. It is a program of U.S. Inc., a foundation formed by John Tanton, who was called by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) "the racist fou ...

in 1990. He served as its publisher. Additionally, he was the editor-in-chief of its journal, ''The Social Contract'', since 1998. He co-authored the book ''The Immigrant Invasion'' with Wayne Lutton, which was published by the Social Contract Press in 1994.

Promotion of eugenics

According to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, Tanton "has openly embraced eugenics, the science of improving the genetic quality of the human population by encouraging selective breeding and at times, advocating for the sterilization of genetically undesirable groups." Tanton wrote a paper in 1975 arguing for "passive eugenics" whereby child-bearing would be restricted to those between the ages of 20 and 35. He also founded the pro-eugenics organization, the Society for Genetic Education (SAGE).

Opposition to immigration

According to Rafael Bernal of ''the Hill,'' Tanton's opposition to immigration was "on the grounds of population reduction and protection of an ethnic white majority". According to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Tanton over time increasingly made his case against immigration in "racial terms". According to the ''

'', Tanton also said "One of my prime concerns is about the decline of folks who look like you and me ... for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that."

Resignation from U.S. English

In 1988, shortly before a referendum in Arizona to make English the state's official language, a memo written by Tanton was leaked to the media. The ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' published a 1986 memo from Tanton. After the memo was published, executive director

Linda Chavez Linda Lou ChavezStated on ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'', May 20, 2012, PBS (born June 17, 1947) is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal ...

resigned, former supporters of the group, including

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...

, and

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

, also ended their association, and Tanton resigned from his position as chairman of the group.Potok, Mark, ''Intelligence Report'', Spring 2004, pp. 59-63. Tanton complained that he had been

smeared ''Smeared'' is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Sloan. It was released in Canada on October 1, 1992, and in the United States in January, 1993, on Geffen Records. The album was recorded at a low cost of $1,200. The album is ranked ...

as a

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

Funding of FAIR

Under Tanton's leadership FAIR was criticized for taking funding for many years from the

Pioneer Fund Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first projects w ...

, a

non-profit foundation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

dedicated to "improving the character of the American people" by, among other things, promoting the practice of

, or selective breeding. FAIR responded to this criticism by asserting that the Pioneer Fund clearly states that it supports equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, national origin, or ethnicity; that other major organizations, including universities in the United States and other countries, have also accepted grants from the Fund; and that the Pioneer Fund's contributions to FAIR were used only for the general operation of the organization.

Southern Poverty Law Center criticism

Both FAIR and Social Contract Press are designated as

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...

s by the

(SPLC). In 2001, the SPLC included these groups, and Tanton, in a list of inter-connected network of anti-immigration groups which espouse bigotry, either openly, or thinly disguised. In February 2009, the SPLC again described his views as racist. Tanton's environmentalist and anti-immigration activities are well-documented in 15 file boxes of archives he donated to the Bentley Historical Library at the

. Another 10 file boxes are sealed until 2035. A February 2009 Southern Poverty Law Center report examined Tanton's written correspondence highlighted alleged connections between Tanton's anti-immigration efforts and

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

and pro-

leaders. The introduction to the report read:

FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. As the first article in this report shows, Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. He has met with leading white supremacists and associated closely with the leaders of a eugenicist foundation once described by a leading newspaper as a "neo-Nazi organization." He has made a series of racist statements about Latinos and worried that they were outbreeding whites. At one point, he wrote candidly that to maintain American culture, "a European-American majority" is required.

Tanton rejected the Southern Poverty Law Center's accusations of being a racist and eugenicist in a 2010 article, "SPLC’s MO: Audacter calumniare semper aliquid haeret (slander boldly, something always sticks)".

Personal life

Tanton was married to Mary Lou Tanton. She chairs the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC. She also co-founded Scenic Michigan. Tanton had

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

for his last 16 years. He died in Petoskey on July 16, 2019.

References

External links

''The Puppeteer Replies,''
by John Tanton - John Tanton's reply to the Southern Poverty Law Center ''Puppeteer'' article
''Father of Anti-Immigration Movement Awaits History’s Judgment''
by Jonathan Tilove, The Grand Rapids Press (April 23, 2006). (© Newhouse News) (Profile of Tanton)
''Common Sense on Mass Immigration''
published by John Tanton's ''The Social Contract'' is an introductory collection of mini-essays in 40-page softcover pocket-sized booklet. * ''The Ethics of Immigration Policy'', published by John Tanton's ''The Social Contract'' is
downloadable collection of mini-essays
also published in a 40-page softcover pocket-sized booklet. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanton, John 1934 births 2019 deaths Physicians from Detroit People from Petoskey, Michigan People associated with Planned Parenthood English-only movement American conservationists Anti-immigration activists American non-fiction environmental writers Sustainability advocates University of Michigan Medical School alumni American eugenicists American white nationalists Activists from Detroit