U.S. English, Inc. is an American political advocacy group founded in 1983 by Senator S. I. Hayakawa and Dr. John Tanton to advocate the adoption of the English language as the official language of the United States of America. Politics, sometimes defined as the art and science of government[1], is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ... An advocacy group, interest group or lobbying group is a group, however loosely or tightly organized, doing advocacy: those determined to encourage or prevent changes in public policy without trying to be elected. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906–February 27, 1992) was an English professor and academic who served as a United States Senator from California from 1977 to 1983. ... John H. Tanton, M.D. is a retired eye surgeon from Petoskey, Michigan, the founder of U.S. English, the founding chairman of ProEnglish, and publisher of The Social Contract Press, serving as editor for its first eight years. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. ...

Early advisory board members included Alistair Cooke, Saul Bellow, Walter Cronkite, Norman Cousins, Gore Vidal, Norman Podhoretz, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some of them are no longer affiliated with the group. Schwarzenegger is still a board member. Alistair Cooke, KBE, (November 20, 1908 – March 30, 2004) was a legendary British-American journalist and broadcaster. ... Bellow as depicted in his Nobel diploma. ... Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. ... Norman Cousins in 1976. ... Gore Vidal, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born October 3, 1925), known simply as Gore Vidal, is a well-known American writer of novels, plays and essays, and has been a public figure for over fifty years. ... Norman Podhoretz (born January 16, 1930) is considered to be a prominent neo-conservative thinker and writer. ... Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, Golden Globe award winning actor, and Republican politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. ...

To date, the United States federal government has recognized no official language, even though nearly all federal, state and local government business is conducted in English. Some states and territories do have English as an official language; a few have passed laws embracing another language alongside English, such as Hawaiian in the state of Hawai'i. In total, 27 states have English as their official language. The U.S. House of Representatives passed English as the official language in 1996, but the Senate did not act on the measure before the conclusion of the 104th Congress. // The United States is home to approximately 336 languages (spoken or signed) of which 176 are indigenous to the area. ... Hawaiian is the ancestral language of the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, the Hawaiians, a Polynesian people. ... State nickname: The Aloha State Other U.S. States Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Governor Linda Lingle Official languages Hawaiian and English Area 28,337 km² (43rd)  - Land 16,649 km²  - Water 11,672 km² (41. ...

In the view of U.S. English's members, making English the official language of the U.S. would mean that all government business must be conducted in English, "with commonsense exceptions" of necessity, for example the dissemination of public-health information to non-English speaking immigrant communities.

Opponents of the goals of the U.S. English organization or of English as the official language object that the practice would express a bias against immigrants who have not yet learned English. U.S. English suggests that the practice would instead encourage immigrants to learn English more quickly, and thereby reap greater economic and political benefits. Thus, in the view of many supporters of this approach—including members of other English-only advocacy groups—the move to make English the only official language can have benefits for non-English speakers, and is not merely a form of legalized discrimination.

Walter Cronkite was once a board member of the organization, while Linda Chavez was once executive director. Both resigned following the leak by the Arizona Republic newspaper of a 1988 memo from John Tanton that critics claimed was derogatory toward Hispanics, which Cronkite called "embarrassing".[1] John Tanton also severed his ties to the group in 1988 following the leak of the memo, and is no longer associated with U.S. English; he later went on to found a separate pro-official English group, ProEnglish. Linda Chavez, born June 17, 1947, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a prominent Hispanic American conservative author, commentator, who hosts a daily radio show on WMET 1160 AM radio in Washington, DC.. She also writes a weekly syndicated column. ... The Arizona Republic is a newspaper published in Phoenix, Arizona. ... The Hispanic world Hispanic (Spanish: Hispano) is a term denoting a derivation from Spain, her people and culture. ... ProEnglish is a non-profit organization which lobbies for the use of the English language in the United States. ...

External links

• U.S. English, Inc.