# Roy Welensky Becomes Federal Premier (1956)

URL: https://allhistories.com/zimbabwe/timeline/1956-roy-welensky-becomes-federal-premier
Location: Salisbury (Harare), Zimbabwe
Themes: main-event

Roy Welensky was born in Salisbury in 1907 to a Lithuanian Jewish father and an Afrikaner mother. A former railway worker, trade unionist and heavyweight boxing champion, he became the dominant settler politician in Northern Rhodesia and one of the chief architects of federation. He served as deputy to Huggins, by then Lord Malvern, in the federal government from 1953. When Malvern retired in late 1956, Welensky became federal Prime Minister on 1 November and leader of the United Federal Party. His government pushed for the Federation to achieve full dominion status within the Commonwealth, passed the 1957 Constitution Amendment Act and Federal Electoral Act that enlarged the federal parliament on a franchise still dominated by whites, and presided over the completion of the Kariba Dam. Welensky fought tenaciously against African nationalist demands for secession in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia and against what he saw as British betrayal under Harold Macmillan. He failed: by 1963 Britain had accepted that the northern territories could leave, and Welensky's Federation was dissolved. His defeat helped persuade many white Southern Rhodesians to turn to the harder line of the Rhodesian Front. At this point in the timeline (2 November 1956), the Sovereign (British monarch) of Southern Rhodesia was Elizabeth II (6 February 1952 – 2 March 1970); the Governor of Southern Rhodesia was Peveril William-Powlett (26 November 1954 – 28 December 1959). Government: the Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia was Garfield Todd (7 September 1953 – 17 February 1958); the Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was Roy Welensky (2 November 1956 – 31 December 1963).

## Why it matters
Welensky led the Federation through its climax and collapse, a struggle that radicalised white politics in Southern Rhodesia.

Ruler at the Time: [Elizabeth II](https://allhistories.com/zimbabwe/rulers/elizabeth-ii)

Governor of Southern Rhodesia: Peveril William-Powlett
Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia: Garfield Todd (United Rhodesia Party)
Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland: Roy Welensky (United Federal Party)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Roy Welensky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Welensky)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Roy Welensky](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Roy+Welensky)
- [Wikipedia — United Federal Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Federal_Party)
- [Wikipedia — Federation, Udi and The Liberation War (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Bush_War)