Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919—20 November 2007) was the Prime Minister of Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, from 1964 to 1979, and became (in)famous for ruling what amounted to an apartheid pariah regime in the waning days of European colonialism in Africa.
Ian Smith was born in the town of Selukwe to a Scottish rancher father and an English mother, which made him the first native-born head of government for Rhodesia. Like many settlers, Smith's parents were attracted to Southern Rhodesia's rich farmland and vast mineral wealth, and the colony grew to the point that it was allowed Responsible Government, but not dominion status, in 1923.
Smith enjoyed an English upbringing that instilled in him an almost fanatical belief in the values of the British Empire...for better or for worse. His loyalty to Britain was such that when the Second World War broke out, he immediately signed up for the Air Force despite attending university, which broke the recruitment rules that prevented college students from joining. Despite a rather chaotic service that consisted of a crash that left him so severely disfigured it affected his speech and smile for the rest of his life, getting trapped in Fascist Italy and having to hike barefoot through the Alps, he served the British army faithfully until the end of the war.
Despite the combined stress of starting his own farm and a new family, Smith entered politics after being approached by members of the Liberal Party and was elected to the parliament of Southern Rhodesia in 1948. While his career began somewhat quietly, with most people seeing him as a talented but uncharismatic placeholder, he became vocal as decolonization gathered steam.
In 1953, Southern Rhodesia joined with the British colony of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which its leaders hoped would better represent the interests of white settlers and convince the British government to grant them Dominion status. However, with white supremacy no longer a popular viewpoint among British elites, the British government forced the Federation's leaders to adopt a Constitution that was more inclusive of Native Africans. Ian Smith became the most vocal opponent of the partial enfranchisement of the Native community, despite its initial popularity among White Rhodesians. But as the black majority became increasingly more violent and restless over the failure of the Federation to address their political aspirations, Smith was looking to break Southern Rhodesia off from the Federation altogether. Using fears of a violent uprising among native Africans, Smith and his Rhodesian Front party won the 1962 Southern Rhodesian parliamentary elections in a landslide. Under Smith's tenure, Southern Rhodesia broke away from the Federation.
The British government accepted the dissolution of the Federation but wasn't willing to accept a minority-ruled Rhodesia either in the Commonwealth or as an independent state. Smith refused to compromise on the issue with then Prime Minister Harold Wilson and on November 11, 1965, Smith launched the Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Smith's motivations and refusal to accept black rule remain a source of heated debate. He (and his supporters) insisted that they weren't racist, but didn't want majority rule because they believed the black majority was not yet prepared to run a country, and that the population would elect a black nationalist Marxist who would mismanage the economy. Robert Mugabe's brutality and mismanagement of Zimbabwe's economy are seen to have vindicated Smith's actions, at least in the eyes of some. note . His detractors denounced him as a racist reactionary whose intransigence and bigotry not only harmed the black majority but drove many of them into the arms of radicals like Mugabe and prevented Smith from managing a transition to majority rule under a more moderate leader.
Ultimately, no nation recognized Rhodesia's independence, the British government continued to see Rhodesia as a wayward colony, the Commonwealth refused to recognize Smith's government, and Queen Elizabeth herself refused to accept being crowned Queen. After further talks with the British government failed, he declared Rhodesia an independent Republic in 1970. Despite expectations that Rhodesia would collapse, it managed to stumble on for a few years, even attracting more settlers. Despite a lack of international recognition, nations like Portugal and apartheid South Africa continued to trade with Rhodesia, whether openly or through covert means to get around international sanctions. note The sanctions even helped Rhodesia's own domestic manufacturing industries. Less honorably, this prosperity was achieved through the coercion and exploitation of the black majority, who lacked the right to collective bargaining and were required to perform some kind of forced labor.
However, this was not to last. By 1972, the Rhodesian Bush War was in full swing, and radical guerrilla leaders like Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo began a brutal campaign against Rhodesia's government and white minority. Rhodesia's strategic situation was further compromised by the collapse of the pro-colonial Estado Novo regime in 1974. Portugal's new democratic government granted Mozambique its independence. Under the Marxist Samora Machel, Mozambique provided the anti-colonial guerrillas weapons and territory, and Smith a hostile nation that further stretched his resources.
Despite the competence of the Rhodesian army, and Smith desperately drafting any able-bodied male into the army, it was too small to fight the guerrilla war. Even at its peak, Rhodesia's white population never was more than 5-8% of the population, while the black majority could win by the sheer size and ruthless guerrilla tactics. The white population declined as many whites emigrated to avoid being drafted and potential settlers no longer wished to immigrate to a racist state being blown to bits by terrorists. Rhodesia's reputation as an economic power was strained by its resources being thrown into an increasingly futile war. Even B.J. Vorster, the then-Prime Minister of Apartheid South Africa, eventually ended his support of Smith and urged him to allow majority rule.note The Rhodesian army didn't help matters with their often violent attacks on innocent civilians, which pushed neutral villages into the arms of ZANU and ZAPU.
In 1978, after several brutal attacks by the guerrillas on civilian targets, Smith realized the Bush War was hopeless, and he opened talks with more moderate African leaders but excluded Nkomo and Mugabe. In 1979, Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and a majority-rule (on paper) government was established under Abel Muzorewa. This did not satisfy international observers who still believed Rhodesia was an exclusionary state, and Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carter forced the government to include Mugabe and Nkomo in the settlements. Under the Lancaster House Agreement, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia would temporarily return to colony status, until an election that included Mugabe and Nkomo was held. In 1980, Mugabe was elected Prime Minister and the country became Zimbabwe.
Smith was initially conciliatory with Mugabe and even served as a loyal opposition leader in Zimbabwe's parliament. But he quickly broke with Mugabe over his heavy-handed governance, to which Mugabe responded by persecuting Smith and trying numerous tactics to rob him of his political rights. Smith's continued criticism of Mugabe gradually softened his reputation among the black majority, especially as Mugabe's autocratic tendencies and incompetent governance became more apparent. Even some of Smith's former opponents, including Joshua Nkomo, acknowledged that he was at least a more competent administrator than Mugabe, while others denounced him as the man who set the stage for Mugabe's misrule.
By 1987, Mugabe's government "reforms" robbed Smith of his seat in the Zimbabwean parliament. Despite his continued and celebrated defiance of Mugabe, he was unable to bring about any organized political opposition and was pushed to the sidelines. In 1997, he published a memoir in which he defend his actions as Prime Minister of Rhodesia.note He moved to South Africa for medical reasons in 2005 and died in 2007 of a stroke. The fact that some black Zimbabweans mourned him is either a sign of his improved reputation or symbolic of how low Mugabe set the bar for leadership.
