John H. Tanton, M.D. is publisher of The Social Contract, and served as editor for its first 8 years. He is a retired eye surgeon whose boyhood on a farm made him into an ardent conservationist and advocate for the environment. His conviction that continued human population growth was a large part of the conservation problem led him to chair the National Sierra Club Population Committee (1971-74), and to the national board of Zero Population Growth (1973-78, including a term as president from 1975-77). In 1979, as immigration grew to be the significant part of the U.S. population problem, he organized the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous articles, editorials and opinion pieces, many of which can be found by searching under his name in The Social Contract archives.Of course, there people are only familiar with Dr. Tanton's work because they've read attacks on him. He's been targeted by Linda Chavez and the SPLC among others, who complained about a memo he wrote about population demographics. Sam Francis discussed the memo and Linda Chavez in column in 2003. Linda boasted of resigning from US English in protest, and I put in this VDARE.com note:
[VDARE.COM NOTE: Since the SPLC, which considers almost everyone racist has posted this private memo - from the heroic Dr. John Tanton - on its website, readers are invited to see for themselves how inoffensive it is. And while you’re at it, you can read Dr. Tanton’s reply to the SPLC here.]See also Steyn And Tanton On Demographics, where I pointed out that Canadian journalist Mark Steyn is making the same kind demographic arguments in his work on the growth of Islam in Europe. You can also find on the johntanton.org website a nasty inquistive letter from Heidi Beirich, with Dr. Tanton's answer. This led to an article in which the SPLC called him a "puppeteer" and blamed him for everything they don't like about the immigration restriction movement. Of course, anyone on the SPLC approved side of the immigration question is called not a puppeteer, but an "activist."
In Alien Nation, Peter Brimelow wrote:
I am deeply grateful to the remarkable Dr. John H. Tanton of Petoskey, Michigan, a practicing ophthalmic surgeon who is also a founder of the Federation for Immigration Reform, of U.S. English and more recently of English Language Advocates, and editor and publisher of The Social Contract–truly a citizen who has taken up arms for his country."Citizen who has taken up arms for his country" is a good way of putting it.
