Hamaguchi Osachi
Hamaguchi Osachi (浜口 雄幸
April 1,
1870"
August 26,
1931) was a
Japanese
politician and the 27th
Prime Minister of Japan from
July 2,
1929 to
April 14,
1931. He was called the "Lion prime minister"(ライオン宰相) due to his physical features.
He was born in
Kochi Prefecture. Having risen through the ranks of the Japanese finance ministry, he became the chairman of his party and eventually the Prime Minister. Initial public confidence bolstered Hamaguchi's government and allowed him to successfully challenge the ascendant military radicals within Japan. His successful ratification of the
London Naval Conference treaty of 1930 marked both the high point of his administration and the last pre-war instance of true civilian government and significant challenge to the military radicals. He tried without much success to stabilize the Japanese economy against the worldwide
Great Depression, and also to bring the military under more civilian control, incurring the enmity of rightwingers.
Hamaguchi fell victim to an assassination attempt on
November 14 1930 when he was shot in a train station by
Tomeo Sagoya, a member of the
Aikoku-sha (Love of Country Association) ultranationalist secret society. (Nine years earlier another Prime Minister,
Hara Takashi, had been assassinated near the same place.) The wounds kept Hamaguchi hospitalized for several months, but he struggled through physical weakness to win the February 1931 election. He returned to his post in March of 1931 but resigned a month later to be replaced by
Reijiro Wakatsuki.
*
