SNA (Tokyo) — In the winter of 1956-1957, the liberal figure of Tanzan Ishibashi assumed the premiership, aiming to normalize Japan’s relations with the Communist world and to depart from US Cold War policy. However, he was almost immediately felled by a stroke and resigned, leaving the government in the hands of the rightwing Nobusuke Kishi, who had the exact opposite vision for the country.

Transcript

On December 23, 1956, Tanzan Ishibashi became prime minister of Japan.

He was a former journalist who developed into a politician specialized in economic matters. He had served as Minister of International Trade and Industry in the Hatoyama Cabinet. On issues such as individual rights and gender equality, he represented the liberal wing of the ruling LDP.

In order to become prime minister, Ishibashi had pulled off a come-from-behind electoral victory over the candidate of the hard right, Nobusuke Kishi, who was then appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister in order to ease party divisions.

Soon after the inauguration of the Cabinet, Ishibashi made clear that a key aim of his administration would be to provide comprehensive medical services for all Japanese, and early the next year it was decided that this would be an initiative to create a universal health insurance system. He also aimed to stimulate the economy with tax cuts.

In foreign policy, Ishibashi was determined to follow the independent line of the Hatoyama era by normalizing Japan’s diplomatic relations with the entire Communist world, including the People’s Republic of China.

Although popular with the Japanese public, Ishibashi understood that his policy would lead him into a political confrontation with the US Eisenhower administration, but he was not deterred. He had previously counseled Hatoyama to proceed with what he judged to be in Japan’s national interests, regardless of Washington’s preferences.

But that confrontation was never to occur. On January 25—just one month after becoming prime minister—Ishibashi collapsed in his home. He had suffered a stroke.

While he was incapacitated, Kishi, who advocated the exact opposite line of sticking close to US Cold War policy, took over as the nation’s acting leader.

Ishibashi survived the stroke, but he was faced with a political dilemma when his doctor told him that he would be bedridden for at least two months.

This diagnosis meant that he would be absent for the debates over the government budget.

Ishibashi recalled that, decades earlier when he had been a journalist, he had called for then-Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi to resign when an assassin’s bullet had rendered him unable to attend the Diet for an extended period of time. He felt honor-bound to remain true to the principle which he had once preached.

Tanzan Ishibashi thus resigned as prime minister on February 25, 1957. He had served for only 65 days, one of the shortest Japanese premierships. He had not even had time to give an official speech before the National Diet.

While Ishibashi did recover his health, Japan’s history was irrevocably altered by his resignation. His successor Kishi steered the nation in the opposite policy direction from what he had advocated.

In September 1959, when Ishibashi visited China in an attempt to thaw the bilateral relationship, Prime Minister Kishi made it clear that his initiative had absolutely no support from the Japanese government.

Ishibashi remained the head of a small LDP faction until he lost his seat in 1963.

He ultimately witnessed the normalization of Japan-China relations in 1972, but less than a year later, in April 1973, he passed away at age 88.

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