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Takeo Fukuda

 
Wikipedia: Takeo Fukuda
Takeo Fukuda
福田 赳夫


In office
24 December 1976 – 7 December 1978
Monarch Shōwa
Preceded by Takeo Miki
Succeeded by Masayoshi Ōhira

Born 14 January 1905(1905-01-14)
Takasaki, Japan
Died 5 July 1995 (aged 90)
Political party Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater Tokyo Imperial University

Takeo Fukuda (福田 赳夫 Fukuda Takeo?, January 14, 1905–July 5, 1995) was a Japanese politician and the 67th Prime Minister of Japan from December 24, 1976 to December 7, 1978.

He was born in Gunma Prefecture and attended Tokyo Imperial University. Before and during World War II, he served as a bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and as Chief Cabinet Secretary. After the war, he directed Japan's general accounting office.

In 1952, Fukuda was elected to the House of Representatives representing the third district of Gunma. He was elected party secretary in 1957 and served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1959-69), Minister of Finance (1969-71), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971-73), and Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1974-76). He was a candidate for prime minister in 1972 but lost to Kakuei Tanaka.

Fukuda (second from left) during the G7 meeting in 1978

He took over the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from Takeo Miki after the party's poor showing in the 1976 election. It remained in office, but relied on the support of minor parties to maintain a parliamentary majority. Although he was regarded as a conservative and a hawk on foreign policies, Fukuda drew international criticism when he caved in to the demands of a group of terrorists who hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 472, saying "Jinmei wa chikyû yori omoi (The value of a human life outweighs the earth)."

In an effort to end the LDP's faction system, Fukuda introduced primary elections within the party. Ironically, in the first primary towards the end of 1978, he was beaten by Masayoshi Ohira for the presidency of the LDP, and forced to resign as Prime Minister.

Fukuda was later instrumental in the formation of the Inter Action Council.

He retired from politics in 1990 and died in 1995.

His eldest son, Yasuo Fukuda, after the sudden resignation of Shinzo Abe, became Prime Minister in September 2007, and remained in that office for one year, making him the first son of a Japanese prime minister to become a prime minister himself.[1] 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).

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Kiichi Aichi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1971–1972
Succeeded by
Masayoshi Ōhira
Preceded by
Takeo Miki
Prime Minister of Japan
1976–1978

he is reborn as a young fellow, not that old guy in the picture to the right, on the call of duty world at war nazi zombies


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