John Tanton

John Tanton

John H. Tanton, M.D., is a retired ophthalmologist from Petoskey, Michigan, and an influential activist in efforts aimed at reducing immigration levels in the United States. He was organizer and first chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a non-profit educational group that advocates for a reduction in the level of immigration into the U.S. He also helped to start two other groups with a similar goal: the Center for Immigration Studies, a non-profit research group; and NumbersUSA, a grassroots lobbying group.

Tanton has also been a leader in efforts to make English the official language of government in the U.S. To that end, he was co-founder (1983) and chairman of U.S. English and later (1994) of ProEnglish, of which he is still a director.

Tanton has also held national positions in environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Zero Population Growth, and local leadership positions in the Audubon Society and Planned Parenthood. He is the founder of The Social Contract Press, which publishes the quarterly journal The Social Contract and other materials on the topics of immigration, population, conservation, and preservation of American culture. He has been the publisher of this journal since its inception in 1990, and he was its editor until 1998. Tanton's wife, Mary Lou Tanton, chairs the U.S. Immigration Reform PAC.