Ikeda Hayato

Ikeda Hayato (1899-1965), prime minister of Japan (1960-1964), born in Yoshina. An economist educated at Kyōto Imperial University, he entered the ministry of finance as a tax collector in 1927 and by 1945 was director of the tax bureau. In 1949 he won election to the Diet and the following year became finance minister in the government of Shigeru Yoshida; he was the guiding force behind Japan's antiinflation program. As secretary general of the Liberal party (1954), Ikeda engineered its merger with the Democratic party that created the Liberal-Democratic party in 1955. He replaced Nobusuke Kishi as prime minister in 1960 and sought to ease the tensions provoked by the outgoing cabinet with its extension of the U.S.-Japanese security pact.