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Ian Douglas Smith

The Right Honourable
Ian Smith
GCLM ID
A black and white photograph of Ian Smith
Smith, photographed c. 1954
8th Prime Minister of Rhodesia
In office
13 April 1964 – 1 June 1979
Monarch
President
Preceded by Winston Field
Succeeded by Abel Muzorewa
Leader of the Opposition of Zimbabwe
In office
18 April 1980 – May 1987
President Canaan Banana
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe
Personal details
Born Ian Douglas Smith
(1919-04-08)8 April 1919
Selukwe, Southern Rhodesia
Died 20 November 2007(2007-11-20) (aged 88)
Cape Town, South Africa
Resting place
  • Near Shurugwi, Zimbabwe
  • (ashes scattered)
Political party
Spouse(s)
  • Janet (née Watt)
  • (1948–94; her death)
Children
  • Jean (stepdaughter)
  • Robert (stepson)
  • Alec
Alma mater Rhodes University
Religion Presbyterianism
Military service
Allegiance
Service/branch  Royal Air Force
Years of service 1941–45
Rank Flight Lieutenant
Battles/wars Second World War

 British Empire

Ian Douglas Smith, GCLM, ID (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a politician, farmer and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (or Southern Rhodesia) from 1964 to 1979. The country's first premier not born abroad, he led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, following prolonged dispute over the terms. He remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed, and oversaw Rhodesia's security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the unrecognised administration against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure—supporters venerate him as a man of integrity and vision "who understood the uncomfortable truths of Africa", while critics describe an unrepentant racist whose policies and actions caused the deaths of thousands and contributed to Zimbabwe's later crises.

Smith was born to British immigrants in Selukwe, a small town in the Southern Rhodesian Midlands, four years before the colony became self-governing in 1923. Serving as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Middle East and Europe during the Second World War, he spent months behind German lines in Italy and suffered debilitating facial and bodily wounds that remained conspicuous for the rest of his life. He set up a farm in his home town in 1948 and, the same year, became Member of Parliament for Selukwe—at 29 years old, the country's youngest ever MP. Originally a Liberal, he moved to the United Federal Party in 1953, and served as Chief Whip from 1958. He left in 1961 in protest at the territory's new constitution, and the following year helped Winston Field to form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front (RF), which called for independence without an immediate shift to black majority rule.


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