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Vorster, John

orig. Balthazar Johannes Vorster

(born Dec. 13, 1915, Jamestown, Cape Province, S.Af.—died Sept. 10, 1983, Cape Town) South African prime minister (1966–78). Vorster was arrested in 1942 for supporting Germany in World War II. In the 1948 elections he was rejected by the National Party as too extreme, but his support grew in the 1950s. As minister of justice (1961–66) under Hendrik Verwoerd, he rigidly enforced apartheid. When Verwoerd was assassinated, Vorster was chosen to replace him. In the 1970s he sent troops into Angola against its Soviet- and Cuban-supported government. He resigned in 1978 and took the ceremonial post of president, but a scandal forced his resignation.

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