KIICHIRO HIRANUMA
(Kiichirō Hiranuma)
America, England, Germany and France Many Japanese leaders predicted war between the Great Powers while America and its European Allies did not see the danger as clearly. Shortly after 1936, Hitler began the Second World War. Japan was indeed prepared. Hiranuma became one of the Japanese extremists and after WWII was convicted of war crimes and given a life sentence.
The Great Depression had worldwide reach. Just as Herbert Hoover and his followers felt that there was no role of the national government in dealing with the depression, Japan had a major faction that believed that the only thing to do was wait the economic cycle out. Hiranuma represented the more activist faction who saw the necessity of national government involvement.
Kiichirō Hiranuma was a prominent pre–World War II right-wing Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan in 1939. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.
