Editing Eisaku Satō (section)

=== 1968–1969 University crisis ===

{{Main|1968–1969 Japanese university protests|Anpo protests}}

Overcrowded universities, increasing student radicalization, hopes for an abrogation of the [[US-Japan Security Treaty]] after its initial 10-year term ended in 1970, and growing opposition to Japan's material and ideological support for [[Vietnam War|America's war in Vietnam]] helped precipitate large scale protests at hundreds of Japanese schools and universities in 1968–1969, part of a [[Protests of 1968|worldwide protest cycle in 1968]]. After more than a year of conflict, Satō's administration responded by calling in riot police to forcibly clear the university campuses. Thereafter, Satō allowed the Security Treaty to automatically renew in 1970, dashing the hopes of activist groups who staged [[Anpo protests|large street protests]] in an attempt to eliminate it.