Clifford Dupont

His Excellency The Right Honourable Clifford Dupont GCLM ID
Clifford Dupont as President of Rhodesia
President of Rhodesia
In office 16 April 1970 – 31 December 1975
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Himself (Acting)
Succeeded by	Henry Everard (Acting)
President of Rhodesia
In office 2 March 1970 – 16 April 1970 Acting
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Himself as Officer Administering the Government
Succeeded by	Himself as President
Officer Administrating the Government
In office 16 December 1965 – 2 March 1970
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Himself (Acting)
Succeeded by	Himself as President (Acting)
Officer Administrating the Government
In office 17 November 1965 – 16 December 1965 Acting
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Vacant (before 11 November 1965 Sir Humphrey Gibbs as Governor of Rhodesia[a])
Succeeded by	Himself as Officer Administering the Government
2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia
In office 21 August 1964 – 17 November 1965
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Ian Smith
Succeeded by	John Wrathall
Personal details
Born	6 December 1905 London, England
Died	28 June 1978 (aged 72) Salisbury, Rhodesia
Political party	Rhodesian Front
Spouse(s)	Barbie Dunport ​ ​ (m. 1933; div. 1942)​ Betty Wood ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 1957)​ Armenell Mary Betty Bennet ​ ​ (m. 1963)​
Children	Hilary Graham Stephen
Alma mater	Clare College, Cambridge
Profession	Solicitor
Awards
^ Gibbs still claimed the abolished position of Governor after 11 November 1965 until 24 June 1969.

Clifford Walter Dupont GCLM ID (6 December 1905 – 28 June 1978) was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government (from 1965 until 1970) and president (from 1970 to 1975). Born in London and qualifying as a solicitor, Dupont served during the Second World War as an officer of the British Royal Artillery in North Africa before first visiting Southern Rhodesia in 1947. He returned a year later, started a ranch and emigrated full-time during the early 1950s, by which time the country had become a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

When Rhodesia's government under Ian Smith issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965, Dupont, as Deputy Prime Minister, was the second to sign. Smith attempted to have Dupont named as Governor-General in place of the British-appointed Governor, Humphrey Gibbs, but failing this instead made him Officer Administering the Government.^[1] He held this post until 1970, when he became President following the declaration of a republic. After suffering from ill health during this last appointment, he retired at 1976 and died in 1978.