Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also known as Dr H.F Verwoerd, was a South African Psychology and Sociology professor, Afrikaans newspaper editor-in-chief and Prime Minister of South Africa. He is regarded as the mastermind behind socially engineering and implementing the racist policies of apartheid, the system of legal racial classification and forced racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid was rigidly enforced by means of oppressive laws as well as aggressive security services such as security police and army. Verwoerd was an authoritarian leader and right-wing Afrikaner nationalist. He was a strong advocate of the Afrikaner volk, language, culture and Christian religion. He held that white control over South Africa could only continue if the races lived apart. He survived an assassination attempt in 1960, but was eventually assassinated in 1966.