Hayato Ikeda

Politician. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Kyoto Imperial University, he joined the Ministry of Finance, mainly working in the tax field. In 1947 (Showa 22), he became the Vice Minister of Finance. In the 1949 general election, he was elected to the House of Representatives (Hiroshima 2nd District), and was selected as Minister of Finance in the third Yoshida Shigeru Cabinet, where he was involved in financial reorganization through the Dodge Line. In March 1950, he said, "Some small and medium-sized enterprises will inevitably go bankrupt," and in December of the same year, he said, "Poor people should eat wheat." He was a plenipotentiary at the San Francisco Peace Conference. In November 1952, while serving as Minister of International Trade and Industry in the fourth Yoshida Cabinet, he repeated his earlier remarks about small and medium-sized enterprises during a Diet response, saying, "It is inevitable that five or ten people who have engaged in illegal speculation such as illegal trading will go bankrupt and some may even commit suicide," which led to his resignation as the first cabinet minister since World War II. Ikeda, along with Eisaku Sato, was known as the "honor student of the Yoshida School," and continued to grow his influence within the party as the center of the Yoshida faction. He served as Minister of Finance and Minister of International Trade and Industry in both the Ishibashi Tanzan and Kishi Nobusuke cabinets. When the Kishi cabinet resigned in the wake of the Security Treaty protests in 1960, Ikeda took over and formed the Ikeda cabinet in July of the same year. Adopting a political stance of "tolerance and patience," he introduced a "doubling of income" and high-growth policy, consciously trying to avoid political issues that were the focus of national conflict. He was in charge of the government for four years and four months until he resigned due to illness in November 1964. He handed over the reins to the Eisaku Sato cabinet, and died of cancer on August 13, 1965, the following year. Ikeda's high-growth policy, on the one hand, elevated Japan to the second-highest position in terms of GNP (gross national product) among capitalist countries, but on the other hand created new problems for the people's lives, such as rising prices, pollution, and the destruction of rural areas.

[Ara Takashi]

"Ikeda Hayato: His Life and Death" by Ito Masaya (1966, Shiseido)" ▽ "Ikeda Hayato the Man" by Haji Fumio (1967, Kodansha)" ▽ "Records of Ikeda Hayato" by Shioguchi Kiyotaka (1975, Asahi Shimbun)" ▽ "Biographies of Japanese Prime Ministers 21: Ikeda Hayato" by Ito Masaya and supervised by Hosokawa Takamoto (1985, Jiji Press)" ▽ "Ikeda Hayato and His Times" by Ito Masaya (Asahi Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

政治家。広島県生まれ。京都帝国大学法学部卒業後、大蔵省に入省し、おもに税務畑を担当。1947年（昭和22）大蔵事務次官となる。1949年の総選挙で衆議院議員（広島2区）に当選し、第三次吉田茂内閣の蔵相に抜擢(ばってき)されドッジ・ラインによる財政整理にあたった。1950年3月「中小企業の一部倒産もやむをえない」、また同年12月には「貧乏人は麦を食え」と放言した。サンフランシスコ講和会議の全権委員。第四次吉田内閣の通産相であった1952年11月には国会答弁中、先の中小企業についての放言を繰り返し「ヤミなど不当投機をやった人が5人や10人倒産し、自殺するようなことがあってもやむをえない」と述べたため、第二次世界大戦後初めての閣僚不信任で辞任した。池田は佐藤栄作とともに「吉田学校の優等生」といわれ、その後も吉田派の中心として党内で勢力を伸張した。石橋湛山(たんざん)、岸信介(のぶすけ)両内閣でも蔵相、通産相を歴任。1960年の安保闘争で岸内閣が退陣すると、その後を受けて同年7月、池田内閣を組織した。「寛容と忍耐」を政治姿勢として、「所得倍増」、高度成長政策を打ち出し、国論対立の焦点となる政治問題を意識的に回避しようとした。1964年11月病気のため退陣するまで4年4か月にわたって政権を担当。後を佐藤栄作内閣に譲り、翌1965年8月13日癌(がん)のため死去した。池田の採用した高度成長政策は、一面で日本を資本主義諸国間でGNP（国民総生産）第2位の地位に押し上げたが、他面で物価の上昇、公害、農村破壊などの新たな国民生活上の問題を生み出した。

［荒　敬］

『伊藤昌哉著『池田勇人・その生と死』（1966・至誠堂）』▽『土師二三生著『人間池田勇人』（1967・講談社）』▽『塩口喜乙著『聞書池田勇人』（1975・朝日新聞社）』▽『伊藤昌哉著、細川隆元監修『日本宰相列伝21　池田勇人』（1985・時事通信社）』▽『伊藤昌哉著『池田勇人とその時代』（朝日文庫）』

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