Founded by oil tycoon Sidney A. Swensrud in 1959 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Swensrud became interested in immigration restriction at a young age, and once authored a paper about the “danger of world overpopulation” after reading works by Thomas Robert Malthus, the English economist who produced the Malthusian Theory of Population.
As a result, Swensrud funded a number of anti-immigration groups over the years through his foundation, including Tanton’s U.S. Inc.
U.S. Inc. lauds the late Swensrud, who served on FAIR’s board of directors, as a hero, saying that the population control advocate helped steer the group “through an early and near-fatal financial crisis,” and helped “re-establish control over the demographic destiny in the U.S.”
From 1987 to 1988, Swendsrud served as chairman of FAIR’s board, and is credited with making “critical policy decisions.”
His family is still involved in funding and advising anti-immigrant work, and his son S. Blake Swensrud II sits on FAIR’s board of directors while his granddaughter Nancy Swensrud Anthony, along with Dozier Gardner, serve as Trustees to his foundation.