ABSTRACT
Kakuei Tanaka had been very helpful to Sato but by the end of the 1960s, it appeared that Sato’s long tenure in office was finally going to come to an end. Tanaka defeated Fukuda due both to brilliant manoeuvring in the internal politics of the Liberal Democratic Party, and to widespread support for Tanaka as the people’s Prime Minister. The problem for Tanaka was that his lack of polish and dubious background damaged his standing with the political and economic establishment. Aware of the potential political fallout of any settlement favourable to the United States, Tanaka also arranged for a generous package of aid to the textile industry to compensate them for any losses associated with the new agreement. Tanaka’s plans all required massive investments of funds, and economic growth would have to be maintained to generate government revenue to pay for the schemes. Local governments and MPs were also enthusiastic about the Tanaka programme.
