Fukuda, Takeo

Fukuda, Takeo,

1905–95, Japanese politician, b. Gunma prefecture, prime minister of Japan (1976–78). Born into a wealthy farming family, he studied law at Tokyo Imperial Univ. (grad. 1929). After working in the ministry of finance (1929–50), he was elected to the house of representatives (1952); he subsequently joined the newly formed Liberal Democratic partyLiberal Democratic party
(LDP), Japanese political party. It began as the conservative Liberal party, which, under Shigeru Yoshida, became the dominant political force in Japan following World War II. In 1955 the Liberals merged with the newly created Democratic party.
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, becoming party secretary in 1957. Fukuda held several ministerial posts including agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (1959–69), finance (1969–71), and foreign affairs (1971–72), and was also director of economic planning (1974–76). His Fukuda Doctrine (1977) pledged that Japan would not again become a military power and sought to improve relations with other Asian countries, and he oversaw the signing (1978) of a treaty of peace and friendship with China. In 1978 he lost the party presidency to Masayoshi OhiraOhira, Masayoshi,
1910–80, Japanese political leader, prime minister (1978–80) of Japan. After serving in the house of representatives, he became foreign minister (1962–64, 1972–74) and minister of finance (1974–76).
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 and was forced to resign as prime minister. His son Yasuo FukudaFukuda, Yasuo
, 1936–, Japanese politician. Son of ex-prime minister (1976–78) Takeo Fukuda, he attended Waseda Univ. (grad. 1959) and worked for an oil company for 17 years.
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 also served (2007–8) as prime minister.