Editing Masayoshi Ōhira (section)

==Early political career==
In 1952, at Ikeda's urging, Ōhira ran for and won the first of 10 terms in the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] of the [[National Diet|Japanese National Diet]], first representing the [[Liberal Party (Japan, 1950)|Liberal Party]], and later its successor party the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] (LDP).

In 1957, as Ikeda prepared a push to try to become prime minister, Ōhira became a founding member of Ikeda's "[[Kōchikai]]" think tank, and was widely viewed as Ikeda's "right-hand man".<ref name="Kapur 48">{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=48|isbn=9780674988484}}</ref> He helped Ikeda write speeches and election manifestos.<ref name="Kapur 48"/>

Ikeda became prime minister in 1960, when [[Nobusuke Kishi]] resigned following the disastrous [[Anpo Protests|1960 Anpo Protests]]. As a trained economist and trusted member of Ikeda's "brain trust", Ōhira helped design and implement Ikeda's famed [[Income Doubling Plan]], which helped turn the attention of the Japanese people away from contentious political struggles to a nationwide drive for economic growth.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=76, 100–101|isbn=9780674988484}}</ref>

From 1962–1964, Ōhira served as Ikeda's Foreign Minister. In this role, he conducted the delicate negotiations which paved the way for Japan's normalization of relations with South Korea in 1965. When Ikeda died in 1964, Ōhira inherited control of his faction.