Ian Douglas Smith, GCLM, ID was a politician, farmer and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. His country's first native-born premier, he led the mostly white minority 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 government against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure?supporters lionise 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. 

April 8th, 1919 in Shurugwi  /  Died:   Nov 20th, 2007