In roaring chorus, the 173 Afrikaner Nationalists gathered in the shuttered caucus room broke into the old Dutch hymn, Let God's Blessings on Him Fall. Then the paneled teakwood doors swung open, and out into the early spring sunshine of Cape Town strode the man they had just elected Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa to succeed the late Johannes Strijdom. White-haired, pink-cheeked Dr. Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (pronounced Fair Voort) looked more like an off-duty Santa Claus than a hard-fisted authoritarian. Yet in his eight years as Minister of Native Affairs, he had proved himself pre-eminent among...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
