“s wartime service influenced his later attitude towards Britain. R. W. Johnson described the Second World War as”
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Ian Douglas Smith
Ian Douglas Smith was a Rhodesian and Zimbabwean politician, farmer, and former 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…
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politics · Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979 · politician · farmer · head of government · also Ian Douglas Smith, Ian Smith, Smith
Born 8 April 1919 · Died 20 November 2007 · Q313424
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Ian-Smith-Warns-Rhodesians-Against-Putting-Too-Much-Faith-in-Detente-April-1975
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2026· 10 entries
“go down ... with all rhetorical guns blazing”
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“part of the game to intimidate me and so demoralise the whites”
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“we have got to accept that in the future Rhodesia is a country for black and white, not white as opposed to black and vice versa”
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“On the other hand, there would be no mad rush into one man, one vote with all the resultant corruption, nepotism, chaos and economic disaster which we had witnessed in all the countries around us.”
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“If it takes one year, five years, ten years, we”
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“this mad idea of a hand-over, of a sell-out of the European and his civilisation, indeed of everything he had put into his country”
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Austin American-Statesman: Texas football LB Ty'Anthony Smith dismissed from team 2 weeks ahead of 2026 season opener - Austin American-Statesman
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2011· 1 entry
Deceased "voters" made up 27% of the registered electorate
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2008· 1 entry
That he would not allow the MDC to take power even if it won, asserting that "only God" could remove him from office
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2007· 2 entries
Died 2007-11-20.
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Prompted sharply different reactions in Zimbabwe and abroad
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2005· 2 entries
As a major cause of Zimbabwe's later problems
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And moved into a retirement home overlooking the sea in St James, a southern suburb of Cape Town
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2004· 1 entry
To meet Conservative politicians was largely ignored by the British press—but he achieved new domestic popularity and eminence among Zimbabwean opposition supporters, who came to see him as an unbreakable, defiant symbol
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2002· 1 entry
Smith challenged Mugabe to come with him to a township to see who got the best welcome
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2001· 1 entry
Required Zimbabwean citizens to disavow any claim to other nationalities, even if they did not hold foreign passports
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2000· 2 entries
Hoping to win support from rural blacks, Mugabe introduced a fast-track land reform programme under which groups of ZANU–PF activists, officially referred to as "war veterans", were sent to take over white-owned farms so
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Than he had been in 1980: "average wages were lower, unemployment had trebled, public services were crumbling, and life expectancy was falling"
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1989· 1 entry
This had been done illegally and violated Smith's constitutional rights
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1984· 1 entry
Declared his intention to renounce his British nationality to abide by a new Zimbabwean law outlawing multiple citizenship
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1981· 1 entry
For openly calling for a one-party state; Smith said this was putting off foreign investors
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1980· 1 entry
And internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980
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1966· 1 entry
“When I say take it, I use it in two ways. Firstly, when it comes to sanctions we have proved we can take it. Secondly, when it comes to independence, we have also proved we can take it.”
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1964· 2 entries
“No forced integration. No lowering of standards. No abdication of responsible government. No repeal of the Land Apportionment Act. No appeasement to suit the Afro-Asian bloc.”
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of Rhodesia (1964–1979).
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1962· 1 entry
Co-founded the Rhodesian Front, which opposed immediate majority rule
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1958· 1 entry
Agreed to a new constitution with Britain in 1961
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1957· 1 entry
To enlarge the black electorate, very few of the newly enfranchised blacks registered to vote, much less utilised their vote, partly due to a boycott campaign by black nationalist movements seeking majority rule
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1956· 1 entry
Smith "didn't spend much time in Salisbury" during the early Federal period, and had "three major interests
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1948· 1 entry
“oppos[ition] on principle to side-stepping or evading an issue ... her tendency was to opt for a decision requiring courage, as opposed to taking the easy way out”
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1947· 1 entry
Met Janet Duvenage (née Watt), a schoolteacher from the Cape in South Africa who had come to Selukwe to stay with family after the death of her husband Piet on the rugby field
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1939· 1 entry
Southern Rhodesia had been self-governing for 16 years, having gained responsible government from the UK in 1923
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1938· 1 entry
Smith enrolled at the start of 1938, reading for a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
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1919· 2 entries
Born 1919-04-08.
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Ian Douglas Smith was born on 8 April 1919 in Selukwe (now Shurugwi), a small mining and farming town about 310 km (190 mi) southwest of the Southern Rhodesian capital Salisbury (now Harare).
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1908· 1 entry
Jock Smith astonished them in 1911 by arriving unannounced in Cumberland to ask for Agnes's hand; they had not seen each other for three years
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1907· 1 entry
When she was sixteen, a year after her family's emigration to Selukwe from Frizington, Cumberland
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1901· 1 entry
“Nine people born between 1890 and 1900, aged between 111 and 120 years, are registered voters.”
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1898· 1 entry
And became a prominent rancher, butcher, miner, and garage owner in Selukwe
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