Kantaro Suzuki

Kantarō Suzuki was a Japanese admiral and politician who served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan from 7 April to 17 August 1945. He was the last premier of Japan during World War II and the one who decided to accept the Potsdam Declaration and surrender to the Allies. He was also a member and final leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, a political organization that supported the wartime regime of Emperor Hirohito. Suzuki had a long and distinguished naval career, participating in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. He was known as the leading torpedo warfare expert in the Imperial Japanese Navy and commanded several fleets and naval districts. He was also a naval attaché to Germany and a member of the Supreme War Council. He retired from active service in 1929 and was ennobled with the title of baron. He became the president of the Privy Council of Japan in 1944 and was appointed as prime minister in 1945, when Japan was facing imminent defeat. He was a moderate who favored ending the war and sought to establish contact with the Soviet Union, hoping for its mediation. However, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war, he realized that Japan had no choice but to surrender unconditionally. He persuaded the divided cabinet and the reluctant emperor to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which he announced to the nation in a historic radio broadcast on 15 August 1945. He resigned as prime minister on 17 August and was succeeded by Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni. He remained as the president of the Privy Council until 1946, when the body was abolished by the Allied occupation authorities. He died of liver cancer in 1948 at the age of 80. He was buried in his home town of Noda, Chiba.