The Afrikaner pastor and journalist Daniel Francois Malan (1874-1959) was the fourth prime minister of South Africa. His advocacy of segregation made him the symbol of white South Africa's defiance of world condemnation of his country's racial policies.

Daniel Malan was born near Riebeeck West on May 22, 1874. He graduated in theology from Stellenbosch and obtained a doctorate in philosophy from Utrecht. On his return home he served for a while as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church and involved himself in work to solve the poor-white problem. A dour champion of the Afrikaner's cause, he was one of the leaders of the second movement to place Afrikaans on a footing of equality with English.

James Hertzog had founded the National party in 1914. The following year Malan was appointed editor of its daily, Die Burger. He campaigned vigorously in its columns for Afrikaner political unity and entered Parliament...