Ian Smith

Ian Smith was a politician, farmer and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (or Southern 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. He is a controversial figure in the world with many showing him as  a man of integrity and vision "who understood the uncomfortable truths of Africa whilst critics have called him an unrepentant rascist whose policies and actions caused the deaths of thousands and contributed to Zimbabwe's later crises.