SNA (Tokyo) — In early 1940, moderate Navy Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai was selected by Emperor Hirohito in a final effort to head off military conflict with the Anglo-American powers. However, Nazi Germany’s rapid defeat of France soon undermined Yonai’s authority by convincing Japanese militarists that the nation was losing a historic opportunity for changing the international order.

Transcript

On January 16, 1940, Mitsumasa Yonai became prime minister of Japan.

The nation had done reasonably well in the past when led by moderate Imperial Navy admirals, and he was another premier along these familiar lines. Yonai was effectively selected by Emperor Hirohito himself, who feared the consequences of having a radical Army officer in charge at this delicate time.

Yonai revived the practice of creating a national unity Cabinet, appointing several leading politicians from the two major political parties.

Yonai believed in the importance of avoiding further antagonism of the Anglo-American powers, and he had no enthusiasm for radical institutional change. He strongly opposed the increasingly popular notion that Japan should form a tripartite alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

For these reasons, there were many in the Imperial Army and elsewhere who opposed his administration from its outset.

Events in Europe soon undermined Yonai’s authority. In May and June 1940, Nazi Germany stunned the world by quickly defeating France and occupying Paris.

For many in Tokyo, this was taken as evidence that Yonai’s policy of trying to rebuild good relations with the United States and the United Kingdom was misguided. Germany and Italy appeared to be the rising powers with a more modern, dynamic, and effective approach to governance.

Reacting to this widespread sentiment, former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe stirred back to activity, persuaded that the time had come to transform Japan into a one-party state, or something like it.

The end for the Yonai administration came quickly and in a straightforward fashion. The Imperial Army simply withdrew its support from his Cabinet and refused to supply any Army minister.

Left without any realistic alternative, Mitsumasa Yonai resigned as prime minister on July 22, 1940. He had served for 189 days.

Yonai never returned as premier, but he served as Navy minister late in the Pacific War and during its surrender. It was Yonai who oversaw the final dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1945.

He died of natural causes in 1948.

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