Takeo Miki

Takeo Miki (三木 武夫, Miki Takeo; 17 March 1907 – 14 November 1988) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1974 to 1976.

A native of Tokushima Prefecture, Miki was educated at Meiji University and the University of Southern California. He was first elected to the National Diet in 1937, and after the war was leader of the National Cooperative Party, serving as communications minister from 1947 to 1948 under Tetsu Katayama. Miki later joined the Liberal Democratic Party and served as transportation minister under Ichirō Hatoyama, held posts in the cabinets of Nobusuke Kishi and Hayato Ikeda, and served as international trade and industry minister in 1965–1966 and foreign minister in 1966–1968 under Eisaku Satō. Miki became prime minister in 1974 upon the resignation of Kakuei Tanaka, who had faced allegations of corruption, but his attempts to pass anti-monopoly legislation and political funding laws failed amid opposition from within his party. Miki announced a "1 percent of GDP" guideline for defense spending, thus setting a precedent for the next two decades. The LDP was damaged by the Lockheed scandal in 1976, and lost its majority in the that year's election. Miki was embarrassed by this result, resigned as premier, and was succeeded by Takeo Fukuda.