Thomas Chalmers Robertson

Dr. Thomas Chalmers Robertson (15 September 1907 – 11 January 1989) was a South African writer, journalist, ecologist and conservationist. During World War II, he was a war correspondent and wrote anti-Nazi propaganda for the government of Jan Smuts.

Journalism and politics After completing his law degree in 1926, Robertson began working as a Johannesburg correspondent for Ons Vaderland, the predicesor of Die Vaderland. The following year, he traveled to Northern Rhodesia, where he became an editor of The Livingstone Mail and a correspondent for The Times. He later worked in Ceylon and Australia before returning to South Africa in 1931 to serve as a parliamentary correspondent for the Cape Times. In 1934, he joined the editorial staff of The Rand Daily Mail and the Sunday Times.

In 1937, he became an editor of Forward, a Labour Party newspaper, and even unsuccessfully contested the 1938 election as the Labour candidate for Fordsburg. In 1938, he became a parliamentary correspondent for The Rand Daily Mail and the Sunday Times. During the Second World War, he served as director of the Union Unity Truth Service, a pro-government, pro-war propaganda organization, and as editor of its journal, Libertas. He was also a war correspondent covering the Madagascar and North African campaigns. He also helped establish Ilanda Wilds, a nature reserve in Amanzimtoti north of Scottburgh.

"White nationalism" as a term According to Dictionary.com, Robertson coined the term "white nationalism" in his 1948 essay Racism Comes to Power in South Africa: The Threat of White Nationalism. However, Merriam-Webster has found earlier usage of the phrase, dating to 1925.