Hertzog, J B M

Hertzog, J(ames) B(arry) M(unnik)

(born April 3, 1866, near Wellington, Cape Colony—died Nov. 21, 1942, Pretoria, S.Af.) Prime minister of the Union of South Africa (1924–39). His political principles were “South Africa First” (i.e., ahead of the British Empire) and the “Two Streams Policy,” under which British and Afrikaner would be free from domination by each other. He served in the cabinet of Louis Botha (1910–12), but he broke with Botha because of his nationalist sympathies and formed the National Party. As prime minister, Hertzog gave South Africa its flag, made Afrikaans an official language, promoted apartheid, and affirmed the equality of British and Afrikaner rights. In 1933 he was forced to accept a coalition with Jan Smuts, and in 1939 he resigned over the issue of neutrality in World War II.