Takeo Fukuda
Takeo Fukuda | |
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福田 赳夫 | |
Gunma 3rd District | |
Personal details | |
Born | Gunma, Empire of Japan | 14 January 1905
Died | 5 July 1995 Tokyo, Japan | (aged 90)
Political party | Liberal Democratic Party |
Spouse | Mie Fukuda |
Children | 5 (inc. Yasuo) |
Alma mater | Tokyo Imperial University |
Signature | |
Part of a series on |
Conservatism in Japan |
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Takeo Fukuda (福田 赳夫, Fukuda Takeo, 14 January 1905 – 5 July 1995) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1976 to 1978. A member of the House of Representatives from 1952 to 1990, he was part of the Liberal Democratic Party from its foundation.
Born in
His son, Yasuo Fukuda, followed him as a politician and served as prime minister from 2007 to 2008.
Early life and bureaucratic career
Fukuda was born in the village of Kaneko in
Fukuda was assigned as financial attaché to the
At this time he married Mie Arai, the granddaughter of a Supreme Court justice. The couple came to have three sons and two daughters. Yasuo Fukuda was their eldest son. Fukuda steadily rose in the ranks of the Ministry. During the Pacific War he served as an adviser on fiscal policy for the Wang Jingwei regime.[4]
At the time of the
Political career
In the
Fukuda grew close to Nobusuke Kishi, who was making a political comeback. He joined the Liberal Party along with Kishi in 1953 and when Kishi was expelled the following year Fukuda left with him and took part in forming the Democratic Party. Fukada became a prized lieutenant to Kishi.[4][6][7]
The two parties merged to form the Liberal Democratic Party in 1955. After Kishi became prime minister, Fukuda became chairman of the Policy Research Council in 1958 and secretary-general in January 1959. Fukuda joined the cabinet in June as Minister of Agriculture, remaining until the Kishi was forced to resign as prime minister due to the massive 1960 Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security treaty.
After that, Hayato Ikeda was elected as LDP president and prime minister with the support of Kishi and his brother Eisaku Satō. Fukuda again became chairman of the Policy Research Council in December 1960. Before long, the alliance between Ikeda, Kishi and Satō began to fray. Satō wanted to succeed Ikeda and Kishi was inclined to support him, but Ikeda intended to have a long-term administration. In the reshuffle of July 1961, Ikeda treated his former opponents Banboku Ōno and Ichirō Kōno generously to balance the influence of Kishi and Satō. Fukuda for his part lost his position as policy chairman.
In January 1962, Fukuda formed the "Party Spirit Renovation League" (Tōfū Sasshin Renmei), which became a forum for Diet members to air anti-Ikeda grievances.[8] The Kishi faction began to split between those who opposed or supported Ikeda, led by Fukuda and Shojiro Kawashima [jp] respectively. Kishi disbanded the faction in July 1962 and all but the group close to Kawashima joined Fukuda, who became Kishi's de facto successor as factional leader.[9]
Satō decided not to stand in the 1962 LDP leadership election and Ikeda successfully ran unopposed, but the 70 or so members of the Party Spirit Renovation League cast blank ballots in protest.[8] In the 1964 leadership election Fukuda strongly supported Satō against Ikeda. Satō was defeated, but soon afterwards Ikeda fell ill and had to resign as prime minister, naming Satō as his successor.[10]
Although Fukuda remained locked out of the cabinet during the Ikeda years, his star began to rise again under Satō. Fukuda rose to the prestigious posts of Minister of Finance (1965–66, 1968–71) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971–72). After Satō's third and final term as prime minister came to an end in 1972, Fukuda ran as a candidate to replace him but lost out to insurgent candidate Kakuei Tanaka. Under Tanaka, Fukuda once again served as Minister of Finance (1973–74), and even when the Tanaka cabinet fell due to a corruption scandal, Fukuda was seen as "clean" and served a stint as Director of the Economic Planning Agency under the ensuing cabinet of Takeo Miki (1974–76).
Premiership
After the LDP's poor showing in the 1976 election, Miki stepped down as prime minister and Fukuda was elected to replace him. Fukuda remained in office until 1978,
In matters of
On 18 August 1977, Fukuda delivered an address at the ASEAN summit in Manila, which had been popularly dubbed as the "Fukuda Doctrine." In this speech, Fukuda was mainly concerned with three goals: overcoming the psychological barriers between Southeast Asia and Japan which came about due to World War II by reaffirming Japan's commitment to pacifism, increasing mutual "heart-to-heart" confidence between Japan and ASEAN countries, and the willingness of Japan to be an "equal partner" with ASEAN countries (rather than the economic giant it was feared as). In order to bolster these promises, Fukuda clarified Japanese willingness to provide for loans and development assistance, but under the condition that ASEAN does not require Japan to commit to joining an exclusivist trading block.[12]
In an effort to end the LDP's faction system, Fukuda introduced
Personal life
Fukuda was married and had five children: three sons and two daughters.[2] His eldest son, Yasuo Fukuda, became prime minister in September 2007, after the sudden resignation of Shinzō Abe, and remained in that office for one year, making him the first son of a Japanese prime minister to become a prime minister himself.[13] In addition, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi began his political career as a secretary to Fukuda, and the two were very close in their political and personal lives from the 1970s onward (Fukuda was the best man at Koizumi's wedding).
In his 1977 speech delivered to ASEAN, Fukuda identified controversial Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos as a close friend of his.[14]
Death
Fukuda died of chronic emphysema in the hospital of Tokyo Women's Medical College on 5 July 1995 at the age of 90.[2]
Honours
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (5 July 1995; posthumous)[15]
- Golden Pheasant Award of the Scout Association of Japan (1979)[16]
References
- ^ a b Kotobank. "Fukuda Takeo". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d Pace, Eric (6 July 1995). "Takeo Fukuda, 90, Ex-Premier And Backer of China Pact, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ a b c Sayle, Murray (8 July 1996). "Obituary: Takeo Fukuda". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9780939512065.
- ^ Yoshida, Kiyohisa (23 May 2023). "そろって大目玉をくらった3人の「総理大臣」". Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Inoue, Masaya. "昭電疑獄で大蔵省を去り政界へ…なぜ岸信介に惹かれたのか". 10MTV (in Japanese). Imagineer Co., Ltd. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0674984424.
- ^ ISBN 978-0674984424.
- ISBN 978-0739173909.
- ISBN 978-0674984424.
- JSTOR 2643695.
- JSTOR 25797599.
- ^ Parry, Richard (21 September 2007). "The reluctant Prime Minister prepares to step up to the plate". The Times Online. News International Group.
- JSTOR 25797604.
- ^ From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia
- ^ 䝪䞊䜲䝇䜹䜴䝖日本連盟 きじ章受章者 [Recipient of the Golden Pheasant Award of the Scout Association of Japan] (PDF). Reinanzaka Scout Club (in Japanese). 23 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2020.