Angry White Male
For years, Sam Francis enraged sensible conservatives with his far-right Washington Times columns. Last summer, some of those conservatives took action. Sneering that Francis is the brains behind Pat Buchanan, they dredged up white supremacist tracts that got him fired. Now Francis is fighting back.
Cover Story
Sometimes, mere circumstance vaults into irony. So it is that Samuel Francis, current defender of the Southern Way of Life, came to occupy the boyhood bedroom of Robert E. Lee, legendary defender of the Southern Way of Life.
Francis' computer, bookcases, and stacks of yellowing newspapers now sit where he thinks young Master Lee's bed once did. It's a nook cramped by the top-floor eaves of an Old Town Alexandria house owned for a year by Henry Lee (Robert's father). The stench of Francis' pack-a-day Pall Mall habit fills the little office. Francis isn't one for elaborate decor, but he has personalized the room a bit—for example, the paperweight model of a Heckler & Koch 91 A-2 semiautomatic rifle (complete with telescopic sight) lends a homey touch. The prim brick house now quarters the Foundation Endowment, a think tank and Francis' new employer.
Francis wasn't supposed to have a new employer: He enjoyed his job as an editorial writer and nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Times. But he didn't have much choice. Last September, the paper, which never misses a chance to print the conservative side of a story, fired Francis for being too conservative.
"I think that basically I was probably...too politically incorrect for the Times," says Francis.
Editor in Chief Wesley Pruden, who denied repeated requests for an interview, told the Washington Post that Francis merely "resigned" after a discussion. But according to Times staffers, Pruden wanted to sack the columnist after reading some things Francis said and wrote outside the Times that he thought were racist.... Continued 
Issue of Jan. 19 - 25, 1996
News and Features
- Angry White Male
Cover Story - Knight Arrant
Feature - District Line
The City - Paperless Trail
The City - My Grandmother Is Not the Mayor...
The City - Sweet Georgia Brown
The Mail - Perception vs. Fealty
The Mail - Be It Ever so Skanky
The Mail - Charter Flight
The Mail
Columns
- Going, Going, Gone
Cheap Seats - Williams vs. Barry, Round 7
Loose Lips
Eats
Movies
Music
- Drums! Drums! À Go Go
Music Review - Volume One (1938-1941)
Music Review - Iaora Tahiti
Music Review - Hempilation: Freedom Is Norml
Music Review
Theater
Arts and Events
- Cover Girl
Artifacts - Political Comebacks
Artifacts - Songs to the Siren
Artifacts - The Photographers Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down With a Book
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- William Gottlieb
City Lights - Madison D. Lacy
City Lights - Upper Crust
City Lights - Jazz Vespers
City Lights - A Venetian Night
City Lights - Mark Leyner
City Lights - Hanoch Rosenn
City Lights - Two Architectural Competitions and Their Influence on A.B. Mullett's Federal Buildings
City Lights - Bob Somerby
City Lights - Dale Peck
City Lights - Sinclair
City Lights - Frank Morgan
City Lights
Find an Event
Enter a keyword, select the type of event, and the particular day this week below.
Submit your event to the City Paper's Event Calendar.
Find a Restaurant
Enter a restaurant name, or select a cuisine and neighborhood below.
Find a Movie
Select a movie theater in the box below to see a list of all movies at that theater.
...Or view a full list of theaters, films, and showtimes.
Search Classified Ads
Post a Classified Ad
Search inventory on the City Paper's CarTango website:
This Week in
City Paper History
- Angels Without Wings
Oct. 2 - 8, 1998 - Fare Elections
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003 - Kicking and Screaming
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003
