This argument is almost always bullshit because, while there's always been bad people, there's also always been people who knew better and who pushed back against these ideas. Sanford's article explains how Lovecraft's racism was so well-known, one of his friends was forced to address it. One of his contemporaries, Charles D. Isaacson, even talked about his racism in an essay from 1915. In a call-out that I'm sure would instantly get Isaacson dismissed and labeled as an emotional snowflake SJW, he wrote that Lovecraft "is against tolerance of color, creed and equality, upholds race prejudice…".