How a Network of Conservationists and Population Control Activists Created the Contemporary US Anti-Immigration Movement

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Endeavour Vol. 39 No. 2

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How a network of conservationists and

population control activists created the contemporary US anti-immigration movement

1 2,

Sebastian Normandin and Sean A. Valles *

Independent Scholar, Canada

Lyman Briggs College and Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University, 919 E. Shaw Lane, Holmes Hall Room E-35,

East Lansing, MI 48825, United States

Continuing historical narratives of the early twentieth Introduction

century nexus of conservationism, eugenics, and nativ- John Tanton, born in Detroit in 1934 and a long-time

ism (exempliﬁed by Madison Grant), this paper traces resident of the scenic resort town Petoskey, MI, is a retired

the history of the contemporary US anti-immigration ophthalmologist, nature enthusiast and activist . In the

movement’s roots in environmentalism and global pop- words of his website, he is a ‘‘visionary—futurist, environ-

ulation control activism, through an exploration of the mental activist, pro-immigrant spokesperson for popula-

thoughts and activities of the activist, John Tanton, who tion stabilization and immigration reduction,’’ and

has been called ‘‘the most inﬂuential unknown man in ‘‘founder of the modern immigration network .’’ Beginning

America.’’ We explore the ‘‘neo-Malthusian’’ ideas that with his presidency of Zero Population Growth (ZPG) in

sparked a seminal moment for population control advo- 1975–1977, he helped lay the foundation for a new era in

cacy in the late 1960s and early 1970s, leading to the the long history of US anti-immigration activism . He used

creation of Zero Population Growth (ZPG). After rising to this position to push for immigration restriction as a

the presidency of ZPG, Tanton, and ZPG spun off the population control issue following the 1968 publication

Federation for American Immigration Reform. After leav- of Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb, and proceeded to spin

ing ZPG’s leadership, Tanton created additional anti- off the still-powerful Federation for American Immigration

immigration advocacy groups and built up connections Reform (FAIR) in 1979, coinciding with the birth of the

with existing organizations such as the Pioneer Fund. Reagan-era New Right . In subsequent years, he laid the

We trace Tanton’s increasingly radical conservative net- foundations of a handful of related anti-immigration orga-

work of anti-immigration advocates, conservationists, nizations, such as US English, the ‘‘oldest, largest citizens’

and population control activists to the present day. action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of

Tanton’s archived papers illustrate, among other things, the English language in the United States .’’

his interactions with collaborators such as ecologist This network of organizations and activists led, orga-

Garrett Hardin (author of the famous ‘‘Tragedy of the nized, inspired, or created by Tanton—the Tanton net-

Commons’’) and his documented interest in reviving work—has been at the forefront of the anti-immigration

eugenics. We contend that this history of Tanton’s net- movement for decades. In just the twenty-ﬁrst century, it

work provides key insights into understanding how led efforts to defeat George W. Bush’s moderate immigra-

there came to be an overlap between the ideologies tion reform proposal, rallied opposition to defeat the

and activist communities of immigration restrictionism, DREAM Act’s proposal to provide legal immigration oppor-

population control, conservationism and eugenics. tunities for undocumented children who entered the US as

minors, and helped to write the Arizona law (nicknamed

‘‘The modern US immigration reform movement

the ‘‘show-me-your-papers law’’) broadening police powers

started with the formation of the Federation for Amer- 5

a to investigate suspected undocumented immigrants .

ican Immigration Reform (FAIR) in January of 1979.’’

Despite the enormous inﬂuence of Tanton’s network in

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 884 0592.the_special_journal_is_ENDE shaping contemporary immigration policy debates, its

Keywords: Conservationism; Environmentalism; Eugenics; Immigration;

roots in conservationism, population control and neo-

John Tanton; Nativism; Population control.

a eugenics remain partially buried. This paper unearths

Memo by John Tanton: ‘‘The Social Contract: A Review of the First Year,’’

10 November, 1991, Box 15, ‘‘Correspondence,’’ John Tanton Papers, Bentley Historical these roots, showing how a series of concepts became

Library, University of Michigan.

entangled in US policy: conservationism, population

Available online 28 May 2015

96 Endeavour Vol. 39 No. 2

Image 1. President Lyndon Johnson signing the Immigration Act, LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto.

restrictionism, nativism, and eugenics. We demonstrate this context emerged Tanton: motivated by environmental

the interactions of these concepts in the Tanton network, conservation, certain that overpopulation would destroy

showing the resulting inﬂuence on US society. This project the environment, and dedicated to immigration control as

builds upon previous work on eugenics in the context of a means of preventing overpopulation.

7 6

recent and contemporary immigration and population Huang and Hultgren help illustrate the legal, politi-

6–10

policy (see ); the history of demography and the tran- cal, and philosophical legacies of the Tanton network. Both

sition from the eugenics era through the 1960s ; and the authors warn a new wave of anti-immigrant population

early twentieth century intersections between conserva- restrictionism is emerging, with certain subsets of envi-

10,12

tionism and eugenics . More particularly, this work ronmental goals and activists playing key roles. Huang

extends similar themes from 1968 through the present points to the ‘‘double-standard’’ in contemporary American

day. It also builds on earlier academic research on the conservatism: revulsion at immigrant women’s pregnan-

conservationist and population restrictionist origins of the cies (e.g., panic over ‘‘anchor babies’’) as burdensome addi-

6,13,14

contemporary anti-immigration movement and non- tions to the population size, while simultaneously

academic research by the Southern Poverty Law Center embracing predominantly White conservative Christian

and journalists . sects that advocate for large family sizes (e.g., the Quiver-

full movement) . Hultgren sees the early stages of a

Environment, population, and immigration ‘‘‘Third-Wave’ Restrictionism,’’ wherein environmentally-

Immigration policy reached a transition period when, in motivated immigration restrictionist policies are pre-

1965, Congress eliminated the ‘‘national origins’’ quota sented in terms of ‘‘eco-communitarianism,’’ relying on

system in place since the Johnson-Reed Act passed in ‘‘apparently ‘liberal’ commitments such as opposition to

1924, with the assistance of the Eugenics Record Ofﬁce unrestrained economic globalization (2014, p. 74).’’

17,18

, p. 97. Image 1 is a photo of president Lyndon Johnson Hultgren sees Tanton as an exemplar of ‘‘eco-nativism,’’

signing the bill beneath the Statue of Liberty. The John- but our paper argues he is better understood as a leader

son-Reed Act emerged in a US political climate preoccu- and organizer at the nexus of individuals and groups with

pied with immigration issues, a period infused with many different goals and ideologies. Hultgren identiﬁes

nativism, racism and the inﬂuence of eugenic ideas. After three ideologies of environmentally motivated immigra-

the 1965 law was passed, overpopulation fears were stoked tion restrictionism: (1) ‘‘social nativism’’ (seeking to protect

by the publication of The Population Bomb in 1968. Soon the ‘‘Anglo-European’’ US identity from onslaughts of dis-

afterward, the ﬁrst Earth Day brought new mainstream similar immigrants), (2) ‘‘eco-nativism’’ (seeking to protect

recognition to the US environmental movement . Out of the US from population growth), and (3) the aforemen-

tioned ‘‘eco-communitarian’’ (2014, p. 65). Tanton is indeed

b 57 59 9 ideologically rooted in eco-nativism as Hultgren describes,

On anti-immigration and eugenics see Higham , Nelkin , Varma , Ludmerer

8 60

. On nativism see Bennett . but has been a leader in all three ideological variants. Roy www.sciencedirect.com Download English Version: https://daneshyari.com/en/article/1157536

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