![]() ![]() Smith became Deputy Prime Minister following the Rhodesian Front's December 1962 election victory, and stepped up to the premiership after Field resigned in April 1964. He left that party in 1961 in protest at the territory's new constitution, and in the following year helped Winston Field to form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front, which called for independence without an immediate shift to majority rule. Originally a Liberal, he defected to the United Federal Party in 1953, and served as Chief Whip from 1958 onwards. 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. A crash in Egypt caused debilitating facial and bodily wounds that remained conspicuous for the rest of his life following rehabilitation, he served in Europe, where he was shot down and fought alongside Italian partisans. ![]() During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. 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. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure. 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. He was the country's first premier not born abroad, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 following prolonged dispute over the terms, particularly British demands for black majority rule. Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Bulawayo Central Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Southern Constituency Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe Rhodesia for Southern Constituency Member of the House of Assembly of Rhodesia for Umzingwane Member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Umzingwane Member of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federal Assembly for Gwanda Member of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federal Assembly for Midlands Member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Selukwe Deputy Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia ![]()
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