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Sir John Baines Johnston (1918–2005) was a British diplomat. He is best known for being Britain's High Commissioner to Rhodesia when that colony made its Unilateral Declaration of Independence in November 1965.〔 〕 Johnston was born on May 13, 1918, at Maryport, Cumberland, the son of a Church of England clergyman. and was educated at Banbury Grammar School and Queen's College, Oxford. He served with the Gordon Highlanders in the Second World War. In 1947 Johnston joined the British Colonial Office, and three years later was sent to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) for 18 months before returning to London, where he was appointed principal private secretary to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Oliver Lyttelton. His duties included working on the new Nigerian constitution and the future of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In 1956–57, Johnston was head of the Far Eastern Department of the Colonial Office, concerned with delivering independence to Malaya and the future of Singapore. He then transferred to the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO), where he was head of the Defence and Western Department before being appointed deputy high commissioner in South Africa in 1959. In 1961 he was appointed High Commissioner in Sierra Leone, then in 1963 he was appointed High Commissioner to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was dissolved on December 31. He then became the high commissioner to (Southern) Rhodesia. == His tenure in Rhodesia == Johnston had to deal with what he described as "hardcore racialists" in the Rhodesian Front government (under Ian Smith), as well as with the African nationalists leaders Joshua Nkomo and the Rev Ndabaningi Sithole. As far as Rhodesia was concerned, Johnston had to try to convince the Rhodesian Front that the British government could not allow independence without firm guarantees that the African population would make rapid progress to the management of their own affairs (whites made up only 7% of the population, but had control of the government). For a year he was the "middleman" as Britain and Rhodesia attempted to hammer out a constitutional basis for independence, with Britain insisting on eventual majority rule. Johnston's view of Ian Smith (Rhodesia's prime minister), was uncompromising: "a dour, humourless man who could see no point of view but his own".〔(Sir John Johnston ), ''Daily Telegraph'', October 25, 2005〕 But for a time Johnston believed that, if negotiations continued, the threat of UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) might be averted. So tense was the atmosphere in the Rhodesian capital, Salisbury, that Johnston found it impossible to establish relaxed friendships. For his part, Smith found Johnston a "strange man" to deal with. On November 11, 1965, Smith declared UDI, and Johnston was withdrawn the next day. In January 1966 he was appointed . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Baines Johnston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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