Kōki Hirota
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Good Olfactory
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Removed category "Japanese prisoners sentenced to death"; Quick-adding category "Executed Japanese people" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]])
{{Infobox Politician
|name = Kōki Hirota
|image= Kohki Hirota suit.jpg
|caption ='''Prime Minister of Japan'''
|birth_date = {{birth date|1878|2|14|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Fukuoka Prefecture]], [[Japan]]
|residence =
|death_date ={{death date and age|1948|12|23|1878|2|14}}
|death_place =
|office =32nd [[Prime Minister of Japan]]
|salary =
|term_start =[[March 9]], [[1936]]
|term_end = [[February 2]], [[1937]]
|predecessor =[[Keisuke Okada]]
|successor =[[Senjūrō Hayashi]]
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{{nihongo|'''Kōki Hirota'''|広田 弘毅|Hirota Kōki|extra=[[14 February]] [[1878]]{{ndash}} [[23 December]] [[1948]]}} was a [[Japan]]ese [[diplomat]], [[politician]] and the 32nd [[Prime Minister of Japan]] from [[March 9]], [[1936]] to [[February 2]], [[1937]].
==Early life ==
Hirota was born in what is now part of [[Chūō-ku, Fukuoka]] city, [[Fukuoka Prefecture]]. His father was a stone mason, and he was adopted into the Hirota family. He graduated with law degree from [[Tokyo Imperial University]]. One of his classmates was post-war Prime Minister [[Shigeru Yoshida]].
==Diplomatic career==
After graduation, Hirota entered the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] to become a career diplomat, and served in a number of overseas posts. In 1923, he became director of the Europe and America Department within the Foreign Ministry. After serving as minister to the [[Netherlands]], he was ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]] from 1928 to 1932.
He became [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Foreign Minister]] in 1933, under the cabinet of Prime Minister [[Saitō Makoto]] just after Japan withdrew from the [[League of Nations]]. He retained the position in the subsequent cabinet of [[Okada Keisuke]].
As Foreign Minister, Hirota negotiated the purchase of the [[Chinese Eastern Railway]] in [[Manchuria]] from [[Russia]]n interests. He also promulgated the [[Hirota Sangensoku]] on [[28 October]] [[1938]], as the definitive statement of Japan’s position towards China: the establishment of a Japan-China-[[Manchukuo]] bloc, the organization of a Sino-Japanese common front against the spread of [[communism]], and the suppression of anti-Japanese activities within China.
==Prime Minister==
In 1936, with the radical factions within the Japanese military discredited following the [[February 26 Incident]], Hirota was selected to replace Admiral Okada Keisuke as [[Prime Minister of Japan]].
However, Hirota placated the military by reinstating the system by which only active duty Army or Navy officers could serve in the post of [[Ministry of War (Japan)|War Minister]] or [[Ministry of the Navy of Japan|Navy Minister]] – a system which the military had abused in the past to bring down civilian governments.
In terms of foreign policy, the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] with [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Fascist Italy]] was signed under his cabinet. This treaty was the predecessor to the [[Tripartite Pact]] of 1940.
However, Hirota's term lasted for slightly less than a year. After the disagreement with [[Hisaichi Terauchi]] who was serving as the War Minister, over the speech by [[Kunimatsu Hamada]], he resigned from his position. [[Kazushige Ugaki]] was appointed, but unable to form the government due to Army's opposition. In February 1937, [[Senjūrō Hayashi]] was appointed to replace him.
==Second diplomatic career==
Hirota soon returned to government service as Foreign Minister under Hayashi's successor, Prince [[Konoe Fumimaro]]. While Foreign Minister, Hirota strongly opposed the military’s aggression against China, which completely undermined his efforts to create a Japan-China-Manchukou alliance against the Soviet Union. He also spoke out repeatedly against the escalation of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]. The military soon tired of his criticism, and forced his retirement in 1938.
In 1945, however, Hirota returned to government service to lead Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade [[Joseph Stalin]]'s government to stay out of the war, but he ultimately failed: the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in between the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]].
[[Image:Hirota Koki.jpg|thumb|Koki Hirota listens to death sentence read by Sir [[William Webb]]]]
[[Image:Hirota Kouki statue.jpg|thumb|Koki Hirota statue located in Fukuoka City, Japan.]]
==Final days==
Following Japan's surrender, Hirota was arrested as a [[Class A war criminal]] and was brought before the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]]. He offered no defense and was found guilty of the following charges:
*count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
*count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the [[Republic of China]])
*count 55 (disregard for duty to prevent breaches of the laws of war)
He was sentenced to hang, and was executed at [[Sugamo Prison]]. The severity of his sentence remains controversial, as Hirota was the only civilian executed as a result of the Tokyo trials, and his sentence was far more severe than that many other defendants who had been found guilty of more numerous or more serious charges. It is often stated that a factor in his death sentence was the fact that he was party to information about what is now known as the [[Nanjing Massacre]], about which he is alleged to have telegraphed to the Japanese embassy in [[Washington D.C.]]; however, regardless of any information he may have had, Hirota had no authority or influence over any military units at the time.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Other factors undoubtedly included Hirota's signing of the Tripartite Alliance, and the antipathy of China's [[Guomindang]] government towards the ''Hirota Sangensoku'', which they viewed as providing justification for Japan's aggression leading to Second Sino-Japanese War (which began during Hirota's second term as Foreign Minister).
==References==
* Frank, Richard B. ''Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire''. Penguin (Non-Classics); Reissue edition (2001). ISBN 0141001461
* Maga, Timothy P. ''Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials''. University of Kentucky (2001). ISBN 0813121779
* Minear, Richard R. ''Victors' Justice: The Tokyo War Crimes Trial''. University of Michigan (2001). ISBN 1929280068
* [[Toland, John]]. ''The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945''. Modern Library; Reprint edition (2003). ISBN 0812968581
==External links==
{{commonscat}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Prime Ministers of Japan-NDL|183}}
*[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747434-5,00.html Time Magazine bio on Hirota Koki from May 21 1934]
*[http://homepage3.nifty.com/kadzuwo/history/hirota-telg.htm The Hirota "Attila and his Huns" telegram forgery]
*[http://www.trial-ch.org/no_cache/fr/trial-watch/profil/db/facts/koki_hirota_549.html TRIAL : Hirota's trial]
{{start box}}
{{succession box | before=[[Yasuya Uchida]] | title=[[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] of [[Japan]] | years=1933–1936 | after=[[Hachiro Arita]]}}
{{succession box | before=[[Naotake Sato]] | title=[[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] of [[Japan]] | years=1937–1938 | after=[[Kazushige Ugaki]]}}
{{end box}}
{{Prime Ministers of Japan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirota, Koki}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Fukuoka (city)]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Japan]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:People convicted in Tokyo Trials]]
[[Category:Japanese people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Executed politicians]]
[[Category:University of Tokyo alumni]]
[[Category:Japanese people convicted of the international crime of aggression]]
[[Category:Japanese people convicted of crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:People executed by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East]]
[[Category:Executed Japanese people]]
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