Biografia mao zedong y nobuske kishi

NOBUSKE KISHI

Nobusuke Kishi (1896-1987) was a Japanese statesman who was imprisoned as a war criminal but released by the Allied Occupation authorities after World War II. His term as prime minister was marked by turbulent opposition to the U.S.-Japan security treaty signed in 1960.

The career of Nobusuke Kishi symbolizes the reversal of Japan's international relations in the 20th century.A cosigner of the declaration of war against the United States in 1941, he became the leader of America's most important Pacific ally in the 1950s.

Political Family Background

Born Sato Nobusuke, on Nov. 13, 1896, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, southwestern Japan, Kishi was the second son of Hidesuke and Moyo Sato. His father, orginally born into the Kishi family, had been adopted by the Satos topreserve their family line and name. Similarly, Nobusuke was adopted by his father's elder brother and took the family name of Kishi.

The Sato and Kishi families were of samurai descent from an area formerly known as Choshu. Both of these facts were important to Kishi's future career. Samurai from Choshu, among them Kishi's great-grandfather, were leaders in the movement, culminating in 1868,to overthrow the old regime and establish a new national government. During the 19th century, more prime ministers came from Yamaguchi than any other prefecture. Kishi thus grew up in a concerned political environment. His older brother, Ichiro Sato, became a rear admiral; his younger brother, Eisaku Sato, became prime minister in 1965; and an uncle by marriage, Yosuke Matsuoka, was Japan'sforeign minister during 1940-1941.

Kishi's education at Japan's most prestigious schools prepared the way for his rapid rise in the bureaucratic elite. After graduating with honors from Tokyo First Higher School, he entered Tokyo Imperial University in 1917, where he studied under Shinkichi Uesugi, well known for his conservative, nationalist interpretation of constitutional law. In the early 1920s,Kishi was greatly influenced by the writings of Ikki Kita, the nationalist thinker who sought a radical reordering of Japanese society.

Career in the Bureaucracy

After graduating with top honors in 1920, Kishi entered the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce as a clerk, quickly proving himself an able and ambitious worker. In 1936 he was appointed to the second-highest civilian post,responsible for the industrial development of Manchuria, Japan's newly acquired colony. In this post, he worked closely with Hideki Tojo, chief of staff of Japan's Kwantung army.

When Tojo became prime minister in October 1941, he asked Kishi to join his cabinet as minister of commerce and industry. Thus, Kishi was part of the Japanese leadership at the time of Pearl Harbor and America's entrance intoWorld War II.

During the war years, Kishi played a leading part in trying to manage military procurement and a sagging Japanese economy. By 1944, Kishi was increasingly against continuing the war at all costs, and his opposition helped to topple the Tojo government that year.

Arrest and Return to Power

With the Allied victory in World War II, Allied Occupation forces arrested Kishi andheld him for more than three years as a war criminal. During his detention in Sugamo prison until his release without trial in 1948, Kishi spent time reading and reflecting on Western liberalism. Although perhaps more favorably disposed to democratic theory than before, he was dismayed by many of the reforms of the occupation forces. Whatever his sympathies, however, Kishi plunged into the postwarorder with the same energy and ambition that he had brought to the prewar system.

In 1952 he began a new political career and a remarkable comeback that, in five years, took him from war criminal to prime minister. His rise should be understood as an indication of the powerful personal ties he still retained with the Japanese political and business elite and his own skill in manipulating...