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Ian Douglas Smith
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.

Ian Douglas Smith

Rhodesia, 1919 - 2007
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Ian Smith; Ian Douglas Smith, GCLM ID; politician, farmer, and fighter pilot; as Prime Minister, oversaw Rhodesia’s security forces during most of the Bush War; held found the all-white, conservative Rhodesian Front (RF), which called for independence from the United Kingdom without an immediate shift to majority rule; following Zimbabwe’s recognized independence in 1980, he was Leader of the Opposition during Mugabe’s first seven years in power; as Mugabe’s reputation plummeted amid Zimbabwe’s economic ruin, reckoning of Smith and his legacy improved; in 2005 he moved to Cape Town, South Africa for medical reasons, where he died two years later, age 88
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Social Networks and Archival Context record: https://snaccooperative.org/view/33527467

Place of Political Representation
Rhodesia