B. J. Vorster

Balthazar Johannes Vorster (December 13, 1915 - September 10, 1983), better known as John Vorster, was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978, and President from 1978 to 1979. B.J. Vorster South African government public domain photograph. ... B.J. Vorster South African government public domain photograph. ... December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a list of South African Prime Ministers. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The President of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africas Constitution. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ...

In Vorster's younger years, he attracted notoriety by opposing South Africa's intervention on the side of the Allies in World War II, and speaking favourably of the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, whose dictatorial government he regarded as a better model for South Africa than the Westminster parliamentary (cabinet) system. He rose to the rank of General in the paramilitary Ossewabrandwag, and in 1942 was interned for his Nazi sympathies and ties with the paramilitary. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... National Socialism redirects here. ... Hitler redirects here. ... The Houses of Parliament in London The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modeled after that of the United Kingdom system, as used in the Palace of Westminster, the location of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The Ossewabrandwag (Oxwagon Sentinel)(OB) was a nationalist Afrikaner organization in South Africa, founded in Bloemfontein on February 4, 1939. ... Internment camp for Japanese in Canada during World War II Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. ...

Following his release, Vorster became active in the National Party, which began implementing the policy of Apartheid in 1948. Although racial discrimination in favour of whites had long been a central fact of South African politics and society, the National Party institutionalized it. In 1953, Vorster was elected to parliament. The then Prime Minister, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd appointed him Minister of Justice in 1961. Vorster's past as a draft-dodger and Nazi sympathizer came back to haunt him. Vorster answered his critics by saying that he had now "come to believe in" the parliamentary system. The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) (with its members sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats) was the governing party of South Africa from June 4th 1948 until May 9th 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Silver medal commemorating Verwoerds death. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

When Prime Minister Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966, Vorster was chosen by the National Party to replace him. He continued Verwoerd's implementation of apartheid legislation, and in 1968 abolished the last four parliamentary seats that had been reserved for white representatives of Coloured (mixed race) voters. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... In the South African context, the term Coloured refers to various people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay or Indian ancestry, especially in the Western Cape) together with some racially pure Khoisans. ...

Vorster was somewhat more pragmatic than his predecessors when it came to foreign policy, however. He alienated an extremist faction of his National Party by pursuing diplomatic relations with African countries, and by agreeing to let Black African diplomats live in White areas. He unofficially supported, but refused to recognize officially, the neighbouring state of Rhodesia, which was ruled by a white minority government that had rebelled against British rule. Vorster followed White public opinion in South Africa by supporting Rhodesia publicly, but was unwilling to alienate important political allies in the United States by extending diplomatic recognition to Rhodesia. In 1974, he forced the Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith, to accept in principle that white minority rule could not continue there indefinitely. Many considered Vorster a traitor. His domestic policy did not match his foreign policy, however; he was ruthless in suppressing anti-apartheid dissent. National motto: Sit Nomine Digna (Latin: May she be worthy of the name) Official language English Capital Salisbury Political system Parliamentary system Form of government Constitutional monarchy (until 1970) Republic (March 2, 1970) - Last President John Wrathall - Prime Minister Ian Smith Area  - Total  - % water 390 580 km² 1% Population  - 1978... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Rt Hon Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia, 1964 (official portrait) The Right Honourable Ian Douglas Smith, GCLM ID, (born April 8, 1919) was the Premier of the British Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia from April 13, 1964 to November 11, 1965 and the Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now...

Vorster retired as Prime Minister in 1978, after twelve years in office, and was succeeded by P.W. Botha, a hardliner who nevertheless began the first reforms to moderate the apartheid system. Following his retirement as Prime Minister, Vorster was elected to the largely honorary position of State President. His tenure in that office, however, was short-lived. In what came to be known as the Muldergate Scandal, so-named after Dr Connie Mulder, the Cabinet minister at the centre of it, Vorster was implicated in the use of a secret slush-fund to establish The Citizen, the only major English language newspaper that was favourable to the National Party. A commission of inquiry concluded in mid-1979 that Vorster "knew everything" about the corruption and had tolerated it. He resigned from the presidency in disgrace. He died in 1983, aged 67 years. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... P.W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha (January 12, 1916 – October 31, 2006), commonly known as PW and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for The Big Crocodile), was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989. ... From 1961 to 1994, South Africas head of state was called the State President or Staatspresident in Afrikaans. ... South African Prime Minister BJ Vorster and Dr Connie Mulder (Minister of Information) were implicated in plans to use government resources to fight a propaganda war for the then Apartheid Government. ... Connie Mulder, born Cornelius Petrus Mulder (5th June 1925–1988), was a South African politican and minister. ... The Citizen is a tabloid style newspaper that is distributed nationally in South Africa. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Website of the South African Vorster family. (In Afrikaans.)
• B.J. Vorster, BookRags
• The Rise of the South African Reich - Chapter 6, Brian Bunting, 1969

Presidents of South Africa
1961-1994	Charles Robberts Swart | Jozua François Naudé (acting) | Jacobus Johannes Fouché | Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs | Marais Viljoen (acting) | B.J. Vorster | Marais Viljoen | Pieter Willem Botha | Frederik Willem de Klerk
1994–	Nelson Mandela | Thabo Mbeki