IN: Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts  (24 May 1870 - 11 September 1950) was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. Although Smuts had originally advocated racial segregation and opposed the enfranchisement of black Africans, his views changed and he backed the Fagan Commission's findings that complete segregation was impossible. Smuts subsequently lost the 1948 election to hard-line Afrikaners who created apartheid.

After nine years in opposition and academia, Smuts returned as deputy prime minister in a 'grand coalition' government under J. B. M. Hertzog. When Hertzog advocated neutrality towards Nazi Germany in 1939, the coalition split and Hertzog's motion to remain out of the war was defeated in Parliament by a vote of 80 to 67. Governor-General Sir Patrick Duncan refused Hertzog's request to dissolve parliament for a general election on the issue. Hertzog resigned and Duncan invited Smuts, Hertzog's coalition partner, to form a government and become prime minister for the second time in order to lead the country into World War II on the side of the Allies.  Smuts had served with Winston Churchill in World War I, and had developed a personal and professional rapport. Smuts was invited to the Imperial War Cabinet in 1939 as the most senior South African in favour of war. On 24 May 1941 Smuts was appointed a field marshal of the British Army,  Smuts' importance to the Imperial war effort was emphasised by a quite audacious plan, proposed as early as 1940, to appoint Smuts as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, should Churchill die or otherwise become incapacitated during the war. This idea was put forward by Sir John Colville, Churchill's private secretary, to Queen Mary and then to George VI, both of whom warmed to the idea.  In May 1945, he represented South Africa in San Francisco at the drafting of the United Nations Charter. Also in 1945, he was mentioned by Halvdan Koht among seven candidates that were qualified for the Nobel Prize in Peace. However, he did not explicitly nominate any of them. The person actually nominated was Cordell Hull.
QUESTION: How was Smuts involved in the second World War?
IN: Erykah Badu was born Erica Abi Wright in Dallas, Texas. Her mother raised her, her brother Eevin, and her sister Nayrok alone after separating from their father, William Wright Jr. To provide for her family, the children's maternal and paternal grandmothers often helped look after them. Badu had her first taste of show business at the age of four, singing and dancing at the Dallas Theater Center and The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) under the guidance of her godmother, Gwen Hargrove, and uncle TBAAL founder Curtis King.

In May 2013, Badu announced she was writing her next project, but not placing a time constraint on it. In July 2014, Badu revealed she was still working on the album and had been recording in April in Africa where she was "laying down drum tracks". Badu also said that prior to her trip to Africa she would have meetings with her record label to set a deadline for the album. Later that year Badu expanded on the album, stating she was working with producer Flying Lotus, who she met via MySpace years ago; they later met in L.A. at guitarist Steve Wilson's house. In 2015 Badu appeared on "Rememory", a song from Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment's album Surf. In July 2015, Badu released a free mixtape of her favorite recordings, describing the set as "carefully and lovingly selected high frequency tones for the soul." The mixtape features mostly vintage funk, soul and jazz songs. On March 26, 2015, Erykah Badu performed at The Bomb Factory in her hometown, Dallas, Texas, for the Deep Ellum venue's grand opening. The sold-out show also featured fellow Dallas native, singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe.  In early October, Badu released a remix of Drake's single "Hotline Bling", and later released a mixtape, But You Caint Use My Phone, on November 27, 2015, making it available for digital download and streaming exclusively through Apple Music. After one week of exclusive release on iTunes, But You Caint Use My Phone was released to other digital retailers and streaming services on December 4, 2015. The mixtape was released without the knowledge of her label Universal, due to Badu sending the record straight to iTunes. It also marked Badu's first release under her own record label, Control Freaq. But You Caint Use My Phone received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200, selling 35,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Badu also hosted the 2015, 2016 and the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards.  Badu held her annual "Still Boomin'" sold-out birthday bash concert at The Bomb Factory on February 26, 2016, marking her second performance at the venue since its grand opening 11 months earlier. The event was hosted by Badu's close friend Dave Chappelle and featured a surprise appearance by Outkast frontman Andre 3000. Badu enlisted Dallas local hip hop acts -topic, Zach Witness, and Cameron McCloud as her supporting acts.
QUESTION:
How did it do?