F.W. DeKlerk, the former president of South Africa whose passing was announced today, was behind the end of the Apartheid policy, the separation of the races, in his homeland. I remember his 1994 announcement that Nelson Mandela was being released from prison. Mandela would end up being president of the country, with DeKlerk as his deputy president.
I am certain that the global influence of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms had a strong influence on what took place in South Africa. Like Gorbachev, DeKlerk recognized that the tide was against the system over which he presided and led the change instead of trying to resist it.
P.W. Botha was the less reform-minded predecessor of DeKlerk, as President of South Africa. Has anyone thought that the stroke suffered by Botha, in February 1989, is what led to DeKlerk's presidency and the end of Apartheid?
Did you know that an air force, as a separate branch of the military, originated with an earlier president of South Africa? Jan Smuts, pronounced "Yan Smoots", was in Britain during the First World War, when aircraft were first beginning to be used in combat. Jan Smuts produced a report that would bring about the first new branch of a military since ancient times, an air force that carried on it's own war and not under the control of the army or navy. The result was the formation of the RAF and now most countries have separate air forces. The U.S. didn't start a separate air force until 1947, all warplanes before that were part of the army or navy.
Here is a link to our posting about Mikhail Gorbachev:
www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2019/09/tribute-to-great-leader.html?m=0
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