Shintaro Abe

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Shintaro Abe (安倍晋太郎; Abe Shintarō, April 29, 1924 - May 15, 1991) was a Japanese politician from Yamaguchi Prefecture.

He was the eldest son of member of Parliament Kan Abe and son-in-law of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. He was married to Yoko Kishi, daughter of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His second son, Shinzo Abe, became Prime Minister of Japan on September 26, 2006. Shintaro Abe was a leading member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

He led a major LDP faction, the conservative Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai, whose reins took from former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in July 1986, and held a variety of Cabinet and party posts. He became Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Minister of Trade and lately, in July 1986, Minister of Foreign Affairs within the Government of Yasuhiro Nakasone.

Abe was a top contender to succeed Nakasone as Prime Minister in 1987, until he stepped aside for Noboru Takeshita, head of a powerful rival faction. Then, he was given the post of General Secretary of the party. In 1988, his chances of becoming Prime Minister sometime in a near future were again thwarted when his name became associated with the Recruit-Cosmos insider-trading stock scandal, which brought down Takeshita and forced Abe to resign as the party General Secretary in December 1988. Although Abe seemed to regain his political influence, a liver cancer claimed his life before he was able to make another bid for the prime ministership.