Background
Fukuda was born in Gunma, capital of the Gunma Prefecture on 14 January 1905. He hailed from a former Samurai family and his father was mayor of Gunma.
福田 赳夫
Fukuda was born in Gunma, capital of the Gunma Prefecture on 14 January 1905. He hailed from a former Samurai family and his father was mayor of Gunma.
Tokyo Imperial University.
He held a law degree from University of Tokyo. Before and during World World War II, Fukuda served as a bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and as Chief Cabinet Secretary. After the war, he became director of Japan"s banking bureau from 1946 to 1947 and of budget bureau from 1947 to 1950.
In 1952, Fukuda was elected to the House of Representatives representing the third district of Gunma.
He was a candidate for prime minister in 1972 but lost to Kakuei Tanaka. He took over the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party) from Takeo Miki after the party"s poor showing in the 1976 election.
lieutenant remained in office until 1978, 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 Liberal Democratic Party"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 Ōhira for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, 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. Fukuda died of chronic emphysema in the hospital of Tokyo Women"s Medical College on 5 July 1995 at the age of 90.
From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia.
Fukuda"s political mentor was Nobusuke Kishi, who was detained as a Class A war criminal after World World War II and later became prime minister. Fukuda was elected party secretary in 1957 and served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (1959-1969), Minister of Finance (1969-1971), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1971-1973), and Director of the Economic Planning Agency (1974-1976).
House of Representatives since 1952.