Deaths on February 15

Samuel T. Francis, American historian and journalist (b. 1947)

Samuel Todd Francis (April 29, 1947 – February 15, 2005), known as Sam Francis, was an American columnist and writer.

He was a columnist and editor for the conservative Washington Times until he was dismissed after making allegedly racist remarks at the 1995 conference of the American Renaissance. Francis would later become a "dominant force" on the Council of Conservative Citizens. Francis was chief editor of the council's newsletter, Citizens Informer, until his death in 2005.Political scientist and writer George Michael, an expert on extremism, identified Francis as one of "the far right's higher-caliber intellectuals". The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, described Francis as an important white nationalist writer known for his "ubiquitous presence of his columns in racist forums and his influence over the general direction of right-wing extremism" in the United States. Analyst Leonard Zeskind called Francis the "philosopher king" of the radical right, writing that "By any measure, Francis's white nationalism was as subtle as an eight-pound hammer pounding on a twelve inch I beam." Scholar Chip Berlet described Francis as an ultraconservative ideologue akin to Pat Buchanan, to whom Francis was an advisor. Anarcho-capitalist political theorist Hans-Hermann Hoppe called Francis "one of the leading theoreticians and strategists of the Buchananite movement". To Jared Taylor, "Francis was the premier philosopher of white racial consciousness of our time".