Ichirō Hatoyama

Not to be confused with Iichirō Hatoyama.
In this Japanese name, the family name is "Hatoyama".
Ichirō Hatoyama
鳩山 一郎
Prime Minister of Japan
In office
10 December 1954 – 23 December 1956
Monarch Shōwa
Preceded by Shigeru Yoshida
Succeeded by Tanzan Ishibashi
Personal details
Born 1 January 1883(1883-01-01)
Died 7 March 1959(1959-03-07) (aged 76)
Political party Liberal Democratic Party (1955–1959)
Other political
affiliations		 Friends of Constitutional Government (Before 1945)
Liberal Party (1945–1950)
Democratic Party (1950–1955)
Children Iichiro Hatoyama
Religion Baptist

Ichirō Hatoyama (鳩山 一郎 Hatoyama Ichirō?, January 1, 1883 – March 7, 1959) was a Japanese politician and the 52nd,[1] 53rd and 54th Prime Minister of Japan, serving terms from December 10, 1954 through March 19, 1955,[2] from then to November 22, 1955,[3] and from then through December 23, 1956.[4]

Contents

Personal life

Ichirō Hatoyama was, as his name indicates, the firstborn boy. He was born into a wealthy cosmopolitan family in Tokyo. His father Kazuo Hatoyama (1856–1911) was a Yale graduate (and Speaker of the House of Representatives) and his mother Haruko Hatoyama (1863–1938) was a famous author and the founder of Kyoritsu Women's University.[5]

Ichirō was a Master Mason and a Protestant Christian (Baptist). He was Japan's third postwar Christian Prime Minister.[6]

Iichirō Hatoyama, Ichirō's only son, made a career for himself as a civil servant in the Budget Bureau of the Finance Ministry. Iichirō retired after having achieved the rank of administrative Vice Minister. In his second career in politics, he rose to become Foreign Minister of Japan in 1976–1977.[7]

One of Ichirō's grandsons, Yukio Hatoyama, became Prime Minister in 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Political career

Ichirō was elected to the House of Representatives as a Rikken Seiyūkai member in 1915. He was about to become prime minister in 1946, but was barred from politics for five years by Supreme Commander Allied Powers because they thought he had co-operated with the authoritarian government in the 1930s and 1940s.[8] He was allowed to return in 1951. As prime minister, he rebuilt diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union,[9] and favored parole for some of the Class A war criminals who had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tokyo Trial.[10]

CIA files that were declassified in 2005 and then publicized in January 2007 by the U.S. National Archives detail a plot by ultranationalists to assassinate then prime minister Shigeru Yoshida and install a more hawkish government led by Ichirō Hatoyama in 1952.[11] The plot was never carried out.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Jorden, William J. "Hatoyama Named Premier of Japan; Brief Rule Seen; Democrats' Leader Is Chosen After Pledge to Socialists of Elections in Spring", The New York Times. December 10, 1954; "Hatoyama Reaches Lifelong Goal That Twice Before Eluded Him; Premiership Denied Him First by Japan's Pre-War Militarists and Then by Allied Occupation Authorities", The New York Times. December 10, 1954.
  2. ^ Trumbull, Robert. "Hatoyama Regime Victor as Japan Elects New House; Democratic Party Premier Due to Keep His Post -- Poll Sets a Record; Hatoyama Leads in Japanese Vote", The New York Times. February 28, 1955.
  3. ^ Trumbull, Robert. "Japan's Rightists will Unite Today; Democrats and Liberals Will Merge -- Present Premier Will Be Re-elected Nov. 22", The New York Times. November 15, 1955.
  4. ^ "Ishibashi Is Chosen Japanese Premier", The New York Times. December 20, 1956
  5. ^ "Hatoyama Ichiro (prime minister of Japan)". Britannica.com. 1959-03-07. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256876/Hatoyama-Ichiro. Retrieved 2009-08-29. 
  6. ^ "JAPAN: Land of the Reluctant Sparrows". TIME. March 14, 1955. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807086-7,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-29. ; "Tokyo Storm Center; Ichiro Hatoyama Likes Hymn-Singing", The New York Times. October 18, 1956.
  7. ^ "Iichiro Hatoyama; Ex-Foreign Minister, 75" (obituary), The New York Times. December 20, 1993.
  8. ^ Crane, Burton. "Hatoyama Barred by MacArthur Order; Directive Forbidding Him to Take Diet Seat Rules Him Out as Japan's Premier", The New York Times. May 4, 1946; Crane, Burton. "Hatoyama Voices Surprise at Order; Challenges Ground Upon Which He Is Barred From Holding Office in Japan", The New York Times. May 5, 1946.
  9. ^ Jorden, William J. "Hatoyama Takes Plea to Bulganin; Return of Some Isles Urged at Moscow Peace Parley --Treaty Reported Near Goodwill Aspect Stressed", The New York Times. October 18, 1956.
  10. ^ Trumbull, Robert. "Japan Urges U.S. Free War Guilty; Continued Appeals Are Based Largely on Dire Straits of Prisoners' Families", The New York Times. June 21, 1955.
  11. ^ "CIA Papers Reveal Japan Coup Plot". Military.com. http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,126978,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS. Retrieved 2009-08-29. 

References

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Shigeru Yoshida		 Prime Minister of Japan
1954–1956		 Succeeded by
Tanzan Ishibashi
Preceded by
Ryūzō Tanaka		 Minister of Education
1931–1934		 Succeeded by
Makoto Saitō
Preceded by
Seiji Tsukamoto		 Chief Cabinet Secretary
1927–1929		 Succeeded by
Fujiya Suzuki
Party political offices
Preceded by
Himself
Taketora Ogata
Bukichi Miki
Bamboku Ōno		 President of the Liberal Democratic Party
1956		 Succeeded by
Tanzan Ishibashi
New political party President of the Liberal Democratic Party
1955–1956
Served alongside: Taketora Ogata, Bukichi Miki, Bamboku Ōno		 Succeeded by
Himself
New political party President of the Japan Democratic Party
1954–1955		 "conservative merger" with Liberal Party
New political party President of the Liberal Party
1945–1946 (purged)		 Succeeded by
Shigeru Yoshida
Preceded by
Kisaburō Suzuki		 Acting President of Rikken Seiyūkai
1937–1939
Served alongside: Yonezō Maeda, Toshio Shimada, Chikuhei Nakajima		 Succeeded by
Fusanosuke Kuhara
Chikuhei Nakajima
House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by
Sanzō Nosaka
...		 Representative for Tokyo's 1st district (multi-member)
1952–1959
Served alongside: Inejirō Asanuma, several others		 Succeeded by
Seiichirō Yasui
...
New title
New constituency
 Representative for Tokyo's 1st district (multi-member)
1946–1946 (purged)/1947
Served alongside: Inejirō Asanuma, Sanzō Nosaka numerous others		 District eliminated
New title
New constituency
 Representative for Tokyo's 2nd district (multi-member)
1928–1943 (retired)/1946
Served alongside: Isoo Abe, Takeru Inukai, numerous others		 District eliminated
New title
New constituency
 Representative for Tokyo's 10th district
1920–1928		 District eliminated
Preceded by
Masutarō Takagi
...		 Representative for Tokyo's Tokyo city district (multi-member)
1915–1920
Served alongside: Bukichi Miki, Keikichi Tanomogi, numerous others		 District eliminated