The Color of Fascism: Lawrence Dennis, Racial Passing, and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States

by Gerald Horne

What does it mean that Lawrence Dennis—arguably the “brains” behind U.S. fascism—was born black but spent his entire adult life passing for white? Born in Atlanta in 1893, Dennis began life as a highly touted African American child preacher, touring nationally and arousing audiences with his dark-skinned mother as his escort. However, at some point between leaving prep school and entering Harvard University, he chose to abandon his family and his former life as an African American in order to pass for white. Dennis went on to work for the State Department and on Wall Street, and ultimately became the public face of U.S. fascism, meeting with Mussolini and other fascist leaders in Europe. He underwent trial for sedition during World War II, almost landing in prison, and ultimately became a Cold War critic before dying in obscurity in 1977.
Based on extensive archival research, The Color of Fascism blends biography, social history, and critical race theory to illuminate the fascinating life of this complex and enigmatic man. Gerald Horne links passing and fascism, the two main poles of Dennis's life, suggesting that Dennis’s anger with the U.S. as a result of his upbringing in Jim Crow Georgia led him to alliances with the antagonists of the U.S. and that his personal isolation which resulted in his decision to pass dovetailed with his ultimate isolationism.
Dennis’s life is a lasting testament to the resilience of right-wing thought in the U.S. The first full-scale biographical portrait of this intriguing figure, The Color of Fascism also links the strange career of a prominent American who chose to pass.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Race, Biography, American History, Sociology

229 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 1966

About the author

Dr. Gerald Horne is an eminent historian who is Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. An author of more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles and reviews, his research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations, war and the film industry.

Reviews

[Raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, as the title aptly suggests, is about the life of Lawrence Dennis. A fascinating and, in ways, frightening life. Dennis’s origins have been unclear for years, and investigators, biographers, and agencies like the FBI have long searched to find out who the man really was. He was biracial, born to a Black mother, and precocious enough to be a renowned child preacher who toured the U.S. and Europe before he went into school, the military, and later the diplomatic service. But born in the American South and aware of the barriers colour placed on those who weren't white, he passed for white. Despite suspicions about his race that followed him throughout his public life, he garnered enough respect and connections to place himself as a leading fascist leader, even though he is now forgotten.

Unlike someone like Walter White who passed to gain access into Ku Klux Klan groups and pass on information to the NAACP about their planned murders and terrorist activities, Dennis simply passed for very selfish reasons and aligning with Hitler and Mussolini. Instead he took advantage of the economic depression, as fascists tend to, to service himself to such a cause, fully aware of its implications. Gerald Horne works incredibly well with the scant information that was available to him and paints a well researched portrait of this man’s life and his times.

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Color of Fascism" is about the life of Lawrence Dennis, the father of US Fascism and a Black man passing as white. Horne explores the relationship between Dennis's political beliefs and how they are directly a result of the constraints placed on him in Jim Crow America.

Horne begins with a thorough review of what we know about his early life to paint a picture of a brilliant young man who estranged himself from his family to pursue an education and a career in politics. His physical features marked him as other and stymied his attempts to build a career in the military, the state department, and finance.

Frustrated by the racial barriers he faced, Dennis looked to embrace a political ideology that would allow him to thrive. Where Black Americans traditionally gravitate towards the left of the political spectrum, Dennis went right and embraced fascism.

Horne paints a picture of an intelligent, cynical, and lonely man. He shows how Dennis tried to reconcile fascism with racial equality during his lifetime. Some of the most interesting parts of this book was Dennis's criticism of Jim Crow, imperialism, and colonialism during WW2.

This book is an absolutely fascinating look at how legal alienation of a Black man contributed to the rise of fascism. The hypocrisy of race relations in the US is front and center of this book. It is insightful, relevant, and beautifully written.

[Da1tonthegreat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lawrence Dennis was once called the "brains of American fascism." He was an urbane, Ivy League intellectual who moved in elite circles. Oddly enough, he was part-Negro and denied being a fascist at all. He claimed only that he had predicted fascism was inevitable (incorrectly, as it turned out), not that he was advocating it. The fact that Dennis rubbed shoulders with the far right for decades seems to belie this, and the fact that he concealed his nonwhite ancestry (even from his children) adds further proof that he was an evasive man who kept his secrets close. His politics are likewise difficult to pin down. What's certain is that he started out as an apparatchik of the establishment in the state department and then Wall Street before turning against it and becoming a dissident, more of the right than of the left, though still an elitist and with the complicating racial factor ruling out full commitment to any side. It's worth mentioning that the author is a black, anti-fascist liberal professor who, though he treats his subject more or less fairly, has a tendency to view him through his own ideological lens and to attach to Dennis feelings and motives that are mere speculation without any solid proof. However, Dennis's own denial of racialism is a mark against him.