Editing Yasuhiro Nakasone (section)

== Early parliamentary career ==
[[File:Nobusuke Kishi Cabinet 19590618.jpg|thumb|Nakasone's first cabinet role was as Minister of Science and Technology in the [[Second Kishi Cabinet#Reshuffled Cabinet|reshuffled Second Kishi Cabinet]] in 1959. He can be seen at the centre of the fourth row from the front.]]
He stand in the [[1949 Japanese general election|1949 general election]] as a [[Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)|Democratic Party]] candidate. He campaigned on a nationalist platform, arguing for an enlarged [[Japan Self-Defense Forces|Self-Defence Force]], to amend [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution]] (which outlawed war as a means to settling international disputes), and to revive Japanese patriotism, especially in reverence for the Emperor.<ref name="Harvey, p. 362">Harvey, p. 362.</ref>  He entered the [[National Diet|Japanese Diet]] as a member of the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] for the Democratic Party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.senkyo.janjan.jp/election/1947/99/000733/00000733_2931.html|title=The Senkyo, 23rd election of the House of Representatives, Gunma's 3rd district|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309085050/http://www.senkyo.janjan.jp/election/1947/99/000733/00000733_2931.html|archive-date=9 March 2007}}</ref> "As a freshman lawmaker in 1951, he delivered a 28-page letter to [[Douglas MacArthur|General MacArthur]] criticising the occupation, a brazen move. The General angrily threw the letter in [the] bin, Yasuhiro was later told. This stand established [Yasuhiro Nakasone's] credentials as a [[right-wing politics|right-wing]] politician."<ref name="NYT01"/> He gained brief notoriety in 1952 for blaming Emperor [[Hirohito]] for Japan's defeat in the war.<ref>Bix, H.P. ''Hirohito'', 2000. page 649.</ref>  In 1955, at Nakasone's urging, the government granted the equivalent of $14,000,000 to the Agency for Industrial Science and Technology to begin [[nuclear power]] research.<ref>[[Daniel P. Aldrich]], [http://www.tnr.com/article/world/85463/japan-nuclear-power-regulation With a Mighty Hand], ''New Republic''</ref> Nakasone rose through the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|LDP]]'s ranks, becoming Minister of Science in 1959 under the government of [[Nobusuke Kishi]], then Minister of Transport in 1967, [[Minister of Defense (Japan)#Director general of the Defense Agency|Director General of the Japan Defense Agency]] from 1970 to 1971, [[Ministry of International Trade and Industry|Minister of International Trade and Industry]] in 1972 and Minister of Administration in 1981.

As the head of the Self-Defence Force, Nakasone argued for an increase in defence spending from less than 1% GNP to 3% of GNP. He was also in favour of Japan having tactical nuclear weapons.<ref name="Harvey, p. 363">Harvey, p. 363.</ref> He was labelled "the weathervane" in 1972 because he switched his support from [[Takeo Fukuda]] to [[Kakuei Tanaka]] in the leadership election, ensuring Tanaka's victory. In turn, Tanaka would give his powerful support to Nakasone against Fukuda a decade later in the fight for the premiership.<ref name="Harvey, p. 363"/>