On this date in 1971, Idi Amin Dada became president and ruler of Uganda. He was the deputy commander of Uganda’s armed forces ousted President Obote to get control of the country.
The one-time heavyweight-boxing champion’s erratic and brutal rule of eight years left the country in disarray. A year after becoming president, he expelled non-Africans, mostly Asians, some 40 to 50 thousand people, from the country. He nationalized foreign companies and killed as many as 300,000 Ugandans who opposed his policies. The Ugandan economy collapsed.
In 1979, an invasion force from Tanzania, assisted by Ugandan rebels, succeeded in overthrowing the tyrannical ruler.