Ian Smith

Rare card · No. 19991

Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian and Zimbabwean politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. He led the predominantly white-minority government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 after rejecting British demands for a transition to majority rule. His premiership was marked by international non-recognition, United Nations sanctions, and the Rhodesian Bush War. Smith was born in Selukwe, Rhodesia, to British settler parents. During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and was seriously injured in a crash in Egypt. He later served in Europe, where he was shot down and fought alongside Italian partisans. After the war, he returned to Southern Rhodesia, became a farmer, and was elected to the colony's parliament in 1948. He was initially a member of the Liberal Party, later joined the United Federal Party, and in 1962 co-founded the...

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