Ian Smith (1919–2007) was Prime Minister of Rhodesia (or Southern Rhodesia; today Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Middle East and Europe, suffering permanent facial and bodily wounds. In 1962 he helped form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front, which called for independence without an immediate shift to black majority rule. He led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, after prolonged dispute. During Smith's premiership, the Bush War pitted the unrecognised administration's forces against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. His government endured in the face of United Nations economic sanctions with the assistance of South Africa and, until 1974, Portugal. Smith is still venerated by some, while critics describe an unrepentant racist whose policies and actions caused the deaths of thousands and contributed to Zimbabwe's later crises.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Smith

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1790:

The first United States Census was conducted, with the United States residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_Census

1914:

World War I: Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and Prime Minister Paul Eyschen surrendered to the invading German army and the nation remained occupied for the rest of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Luxembourg_during_World_War_I

1932:

At the California Institute of Technology, Carl David Anderson proved the existence of antimatter when he discovered the positron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron

1990:

Iraq invaded Kuwait, overrunning the Kuwaiti military within two days, and eventually sparking the outbreak of the Gulf War seven months later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

do over: 1. (transitive) To cover with; to smear or spread on to. 2. (transitive, Britain, slang) To beat up. 3. (transitive, US) To repeat; to start over. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/do_over

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story, to vomit the anguish up.   --James Baldwin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin