Masayoshi Ohira
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Masayoshi Ohira (大平 正芳 Ōhira Masayoshi; March 12, 1910–June 12, 1980) was a Japanese politician and the 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan from December 7, 1978, to June 12, 1980.
He was born in Kagawa Prefecture and attended Hitotsubashi University. Late in 1978, Ohira was elected to the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and on December 7 he was appointed Prime Minister, succeeding Takeo Fukuda. He was the second Christian to hold this office, the first having been Tetsu Katayama (1947-1948). In the general election of 1979, the LDP narrowly failed to win an outright majority, but enough independent members of the Diet joined the party to enable Ohira to remain in office, and he was duly reappointed on November 9 of that year. In May 1980, however, his government collapsed in a vote of no confidence in the Diet, in which opponents (led by Fukuda) from within his own Liberal Democratic Party abstained. He died of a massive heart attack during the election campaign that followed. Chief Cabinet Secretary Masayoshi Ito acted in Ohira's place by deputy after his death. And Yoshio Sakurauchi, the Secretary General of LDP, led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the sympathy vote generated by Ohira's death. The Prime Minister was succeeded by Zenko Suzuki after the election.
| Preceded by Zentaro Kosaka |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1962–1964 |
Succeeded by Etsusaburo Shiina |
| Preceded by Takeo Fukuda |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1972–1974 |
Succeeded by Toshio Kimura |
| Preceded by Helmut Schmidt |
Chair of the G8 1979 |
Succeeded by Francesco Cossiga |
| Prime Ministers of Japan |  |
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|---|---|---|
| Itō · Kuroda · Yamagata · Matsukata · Itō (2nd) · Matsukata (2nd) · Itō (3rd) · Okuma · Yamagata (2nd) · Itō (4th) · Katsura · Saionji · Katsura (2nd) · Saionji (2nd) · Katsura (3rd) · Yamamoto · Okuma (2nd) · Terauchi · Hara · Takahashi · To. Kato · Yamamoto (2nd) · Kiyoura · Ta. Kato · Wakatsuki · G. Tanaka · Hamaguchi · Wakatsuki (2nd) · Inukai · Saitō · Okada · Hirota · Hayashi · Konoe · Hiranuma · N. Abe · Yonai · Konoe (2nd) · Tojo · Koiso · K. Suzuki · Prince Higashikuni · Shidehara · Yoshida · Katayama · Ashida · Yoshida (2nd) · Hatoyama · Ishibashi · Kishi · Ikeda · Sato · K. Tanaka · Miki · Fukuda · Ohira · Z. Suzuki · Nakasone · Takeshita · Uno · Kaifu · Miyazawa · Hosokawa · Hata · Murayama · Hashimoto · Obuchi · Mori · Koizumi · S. Abe | ||
