Takeo Miki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Takeo Miki | |
 |
|
|
|
|
| In office December 9, 1974 – December 24, 1976 |
|
| Monarch | Emperor Showa |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Kakuei Tanaka |
| Succeeded by | Takeo Fukuda |
|
|
|
| Born | March 17, 1907 Nishiyama, Niigata, Niigata, Japan |
| Died | November 4, 1988 (aged 81) |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic Party |
Takeo Miki (三木 武夫 Miki Takeo March 17, 1907 – November 4, 1988) was a Japanese politician and the 66th Prime Minister of Japan.
Contents |
[edit] Background Summary
Born in Awa, Tokushima, Miki graduated from Meiji University in Tokyo. He was elected to the Diet in 1937 and remained there until at least 1984.
He took over from Kakuei Tanaka as Prime Minister on December 9, 1974, following the latter's implication in the corruptions concerning real-estate and construction companies. Miki's attraction was particularly due his reputed political cleanness, and his weak power base from his small faction. In fact, he was not prepared to be prime minister at all, as was reflected when upon his election he murmured "a bolt from the blue".
After being elected, Miki attempted to reform the LDP, relentlessly investigating the Lockheed bribery scandals, which made him a large number of enemies within the party. A campaign literally called "Down with Miki" ("Miki oroshi") was started by influential faction leaders. Despite Miki's personal popularity with the public, the Lockheed scandal reflected poorly on the party, which lost its overall majority in the 1976 election to the Diet and had to make deals with minor parties to remain in power. Embarrassed by the result, Miki resigned and was succeeded on December 24, 1976, by Takeo Fukuda.
[edit] Miscellaneous
In Mao Zedong's final days, he took a great interest in Miki's political condition, as Miki was suffering a coup d'etat from amongst his own party. Mao had never shown any interest in Miki before, or even mentioned him.
He held many other posts during his career in addition to being prime minister.
[edit] Connection to Seattle
To commemorate the ties of Japan to America, and Seattle in particular, Miki gave 1,000 cherry trees to Seattle to commemorate the United States Bicentennial in 1976. This gift birthed the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival, still running annually.
[edit] Slang Term
In Hong Kong, the name "Takeo Miki" (三木武夫) is sometimes used to describe actors or actresses with wooden or no emotional expressions during movies or TV dramas. Some have said that the origin for the slang term stems from Miki's wooden expression during his appearance in news reports about him.
The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.
| Preceded by Etsusaburo Shiina |
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan 1966–1968 |
Succeeded by Kiichi Aichi |
| Preceded by Kakuei Tanaka |
Prime Minister of Japan December 9, 1974 – December 24, 1976 |
Succeeded by Takeo Fukuda |
|
||||||||||||||
