Prime Ministership
By 1985, Takeshita's power within the party had eclipsed Tanaka's, and he was able to win enough support to defeat Tanaka as the head of the LDP's largest faction. In July 1986 he left the Cabinet, only to be named to the key post of secretary general of the party. In November 1987 he became party chairman and subsequently prime minister, replacing Yasuhiro Nakasone, his inner rival.
Among the highlights of the period in which Takeshita led the government, he acknowledged that Japan had been an aggressor during World War II. This statement was part of a speech in the Japanese Diet.
Read more about this topic: Noboru Takeshita
Famous quotes containing the word prime:
“In time, after a dozen years of centering their lives around the games boys play with one another, the boys’ bodies change and that changes everything else. But the memories are not erased of that safest time in the lives of men, when their prime concern was playing games with guys who just wanted to be their friendly competitors. Life never again gets so simple.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)