Kantaro Suzuki, Japanese Prime Minister

Kantaro Suzuki (1868-1948) was a Japanese Admiral and Prime Minister from the 7th of April 1945 until the 17th of August 1945. He strongly opposed war with the United States. Suzuki survived numerous assassination attempts by more radical militarists. As Prime Minister, he played a significant role in the final months of the war and gave the official government response to the Potsdam Declaration, commonly summarized as Mokusatsu: “I believe the Joint [Potsdam] Proclamation by the three countries is nothing but a rehash of the Cairo Declaration. As for the Government, it does not find any important value in it, and there is no other recourse but to ignore it entirely and resolutely fight for the successful conclusion of this war.“ Following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender, Suzuki resigned, dying of natural causes on the 17th of April 1948. (Josef Mlejnek)