Eisaku Sato

Eisaku Satō was a Japanese politician who served as the prime minister of Japan from 1964 to 1972. He was the third-longest serving prime minister in Japanese history, and the first one to be born in the 20th century. He was also the younger brother of Nobusuke Kishi, another prime minister of Japan. Satō was born in Tabuse, Yamaguchi Prefecture, into a family of sake brewers and samurai descendants. He studied German law at Tokyo Imperial University and joined the Ministry of Railways in 1924. He held various posts in the ministry, including the director of the Osaka Railways Bureau and the vice-minister for transportation. He entered politics in 1948 as the chief cabinet secretary of the second Yoshida Cabinet. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1949 as a member of the Liberal Party, which later merged with the Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Satō held several cabinet positions under different prime ministers, such as the minister of construction, the minister of finance, the minister of international trade and industry, and the minister of state in charge of Hokkaido development, science and technology, and the 18th Olympic Games. He became the president of the LDP and the prime minister of Japan in 1964, succeeding Hayato Ikeda, who resigned due to ill health. As the prime minister, Satō presided over a period of rapid economic growth and social stability in Japan. He also improved Japan's relations with other Asian countries, especially South Korea, with which he signed a treaty of basic relations in 1965. He supported the United States in the Vietnam War, but also sought to increase Japan's autonomy and independence in foreign policy. He negotiated with U.S. President Richard Nixon for the return of Okinawa, which had been under U.S. occupation since the end of World War II, to Japanese sovereignty in 1972. He also brought Japan into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970, declaring Japan's three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, not producing, and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan. For his efforts to promote peace and disarmament, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974, along with Irish politician Seán MacBride. Satō resigned as the prime minister in 1972, after losing the support of his party and the public over his handling of the Okinawa issue and the Lockheed bribery scandals. He remained a member of the House of Representatives until his death in 1975. He was posthumously honored with the Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, the highest honor in the Japanese honors system. He was also the granduncle of Shinzō Abe and Nobuo Kishi, who both became prime ministers of Japan in the 21st century.