Hatoyama, Ichiro

Hatoyama, Ichiro ēchēˈrō hätōˈyämä [key], 1883–1959, Japanese statesman. A graduate of the law school of Tokyo Imperial Univ., he was first elected to the lower house of the Japanese legislature in 1915. Hatoyama was education minister in the Inukai and Saito cabinets (1931–34). A leader of the prewar Seiyukai party, he organized the conservative postwar Liberal party and became its first president. In a series of moves he formed the Democratic party and became prime minister, deposing Shigeru Yoshida and forming three successive cabinets (1954–56).

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