Tanton, John H. (1934-)

John H. Tanton, population control activist and conservationist, is also a well-known figure in anti-immigration and English-only advocacy. A retired ophthalmologist, he is the oldest among the three children of Hannah and John Tanton, born on February 23, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan.

Before he became an advocate and supporter of anti-immigration issues, Tanton initially focused his attention on public policy concerning the environment and population issues. His early passion for the environment was greatly influenced by his life growing up on a farm. He considered his life to be ordinary until the family moved from the city to the country when he was nearly 10 years old. During that time, while many people were trying to escape the rigidity of farming, the Tantons did the opposite, trading their life in the city for a more laid-back and comfortable farm setting. While in high school, Tanton and his future wife, Mary Lou Brown, whom he married in 1958, were already involved in natural resource conservation. He continues to be actively involved in conservation, for which he received the Chevron Conservation Award in the Citizen Volunteer Category in 1990.

In 1960, Tanton graduated from the University of Michigan medical school, finishing seventh in a class of 200 students. The Tantons moved to Petoskey, Michigan, where he got his first job as an ophthalmologist in 1964 at Burns Clinic. He continued to actively participate in organizations like Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood, Zero Population Growth (ZPG), and Sierra Club Population Committee, which advocates population minimization and control. In the mid-1970s, while president of ZPG, he suggested a national dialogue on immigration but was declined by some board members, who refused to make a crusade of immigration restrictions. This led to the establishment in January 1979 of the country's first anti-immigrant policy institute, called the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in Washington, D.C., which he cofounded and assumed the chairmanship of.

In the early 1980s, together with other members of the FAIR board, Tanton founded a White nationalist organization called WITAN, a name derived from the Old English witenagemot, which means “meeting of wise men.” A controversial WITAN memo written by Tanton (as reported in the Web site http://www/tolerance.org), included derogatory references to Latinos. Tanton warned the United States of the threat that Hispanics represent to the land because of their high birthrates. In the memo, Tanton stated, “Perhaps this is the first instance in which those with their pants up are going to get caught by those with their pants down!” Upon learning of the controversial memo, Linda Chavez, a former high-ranking official in the Reagan administration and a well-known Republican conservative columnist, immediately resigned from her post as the president of U.S. English organization. Chavez considered the memo to be anti-Hispanic and anti-Catholic. Tanton had helped to found U.S. English when he shifted his interest from immigration to language. He cofounded the group with the late Senator S. I. Hayakawa of California, who proposed the establishment of English as the official language of the United States.

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