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It is with pleasure that I note several people, including some who consider themselves conservatives, have described Sam Francis as he truly was -- a small-minded, bigoted man who was apparently incapable of emotional or intellectual growth. At an early age, Francis latched on to the crude racist ideology of Southern politicians of the pre-civil rights movement era. He never let go. Even fellow bigots, including those at the Washington Times, found his racist hysteria, seemingly influenced by feelings of sexual inadequacy, out of bounds. As a result, he was fired in 1995. Francis' increasingly incoherent and vociferous writing left him unemployable by anyone other than other extremists for the next decade. When he died recently, only some members of the far Right took notice. The relative few who spoke positively about him had to ignore his downwardly mobile career to do so. Hopefully, there is a lesson in his wasted life that others who would follow his footsteps can learn from.