Book Description: In November 1965, Ian Smith's white minority
government in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) made a unilateral
declaration of independence, breaking with Great Britain. With a
European population of a few hundred thousand dominating an
African majority of several million, Rhodesia's racial structure
echoed the apartheid of neighboring South Africa. Smith's
declaration sparked an escalating guerrilla war that claimed
thousands of lives. Across the Atlantic, President Lyndon B.
Johnson nervously watched events in Rhodesia, fearing that
racial conflict abroad could inflame racial discord at home.
Although Washington officially voiced concerns over human rights
violations, an attitude of tolerance generally marked U.S.
relations with the Rhodesian government: sanctions were imposed
but not strictly enforced, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
American mercenaries joined white Rhodesia's side in battle with
little to fear from U.S. laws. Despite such tacit U.S. support,
Smith's regime fell in 198