Shigeru Yoshida | |
|---|---|
吉田 茂 | |
 | |
| Prime Minister of Japan | |
| In office 15 October 1948 – 10 December 1954 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Governor | |
| Deputy | Jōji Hayashi Taketora Ogata |
| Preceded by | Hitoshi Ashida |
| Succeeded by | Ichirō Hatoyama |
| In office 22 May 1946 – 24 May 1947 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Governor | Douglas MacArthur |
| Deputy | Kijūrō Shidehara |
| Preceded by | Kijūrō Shidehara |
| Succeeded by | Tetsu Katayama |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 15 October 1948 – 30 April 1952 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Hitoshi Ashida |
| Succeeded by | Katsuo Okazaki |
| In office 15 September 1945 – 27 May 1947 | |
| Prime Minister | Naruhiko Higashikuni Kijūrō Shidehara Himself |
| Preceded by | Mamoru Shigemitsu |
| Succeeded by | Hitoshi Ashida |
| |
| In office 26 April 1947 – 23 October 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | multi-member district |
| Member of the House of Peers | |
| In office 19 December 1945 – 3 May 1947 Nominated by the Emperor | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 September 1878 Kanda-Surugadai, Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | 20 October 1967 (aged 89) Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic (1957–1967) |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal (1945–1948) Democratic Liberal (1948–1950) Liberal (1950–1955) |
| Spouse |
Yukiko Makino
(m. 1909; died 1941) |
| Children | 4, including Ken'ichi |
| Relatives |
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| Alma mater | University of Tokyo |
| Signature |  |
Shigeru Yoshida (吉田 茂, Yoshida Shigeru, 22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1948 to 1954, serving through most of the country's occupation after World War II. Yoshida played a major role in determining the course of post-war Japan by forging a strong relationship with the United States and pursuing economic recovery.
Born in Tokyo to a former samurai family, Yoshida graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1906 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He held various assignments abroad, including in China, where he advocated increased Japanese influence. From 1928 to 1930, Yoshida served as vice minister of foreign affairs, then served as ambassador to Italy until 1932. In 1936, he was considered for foreign minister in the cabinet of Kōki Hirota, but he was opposed by the Army, who strongly identified him with liberalism and friendship with Great Britain and the United States. Yoshida served as ambassador to Britain from 1936 to 1938. He largely avoided political participation during the Pacific War. During the U.S. occupation after the war's end, Yoshida served as foreign minister in the cabinets of Prince Higashikuni and Kijūrō Shidehara.
Yoshida became prime minister in 1946, after Ichirō Hatoyama was purged by authorities on the verge of taking office; Yoshida served as foreign minister in his own first three cabinets. He oversaw the adoption of the Constitution of Japan before losing office after the election of 1947. He returned to the premiership in 1948, and negotiated the Treaty of San Francisco, which ended the occupation and saw the restoration of sovereignty to Japan, and a security treaty with the U.S. Yoshida pursued a strategy of concentrating on economic reconstruction while relying on an alliance with the United States for defense, a strategy known as the Yoshida Doctrine. The last years of his premiership were marked by conflict with Hatoyama, who had by then been depurged. This culminated in Yoshida being ousted and replaced by Hatoyama in 1954.
Yoshida's legacy continued to play an important part in Japanese political life, particularly through his two protégés, Hayato Ikeda and Eisaku Satō, who served a prime ministers from 1960 to 1964 and 1964 to 1972 respectively. Yoshida died in 1967 and received a state funeral. His grandson, Tarō Asō, served as prime minister from 2008 to 2009.