Editing Nobusuke Kishi (section)

==Return to politics==
[[File:Kishi and Sato.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=|Nobusuke Kishi (left) relaxes at the house of his brother, the then [[Chief Cabinet Secretary]] [[Eisaku Satō]] (1901–75), shortly after he was released from [[Sugamo Prison]] on 24 December 1948.]]
When the prohibition on former government members was fully rescinded in 1952 with the end of the [[Occupied Japan|Allied occupation of Japan]], Kishi returned to politics and was central in creating the "Japan Reconstruction Federation" (''Nippon Saiken Renmei''), drawing upon his earlier efforts with the [[National Defense Brotherhood]]. Besides becoming prime minister, Kishi's main aim in politics was to revise the American-imposed constitution, especially [[Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution|Article 9]].{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Kishi wrote that in order for Japan to regain its status as a "respectable member (of) the community of nations it would first have to revise its constitution and rearm: If Japan is alone in renouncing war ... she will not be able to prevent others from invading her land. If, on the other hand, Japan could defend herself, there would be no further need of keeping United States garrison forces in Japan ... Japan should be strong enough to defend herself."{{sfn|Samuels|2001}}

Kishi's Japan Reconstruction Federation fared disastrously in the 1952 elections, and Kishi failed in his bid to be elected to the Diet.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} After that defeat, Kishi disbanded his party, and tried to join the Socialists; after being rebuffed, he reluctantly joined the Liberal Party instead.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} After being elected to the Diet as a Liberal in 1953, Kishi's main activities revolved around undermining the leader of the Liberal Party, [[Shigeru Yoshida]], so he could become the Liberal leader in his place.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Kishi's main avenues of attack were that Yoshida was far too deferential to the Americans and the need to do away with Article 9.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} In April 1954 Yoshida expelled Kishi from the party in retaliation for his attempts to depose him as Liberal leader.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}}

Kishi had foreseen this eventuality, and by this time, had already identified over 200 members of the Diet who would be willing to join him in forming a new political party to challenge Yoshida.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Kishi wooed these politicians by flashing "show money" (''misegane'') that he had been supplied by his powerful big business backers.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} In November 1954, Kishi co-founded the new [[Japan Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] along with [[Ichirō Hatoyama]]. Hatoyama was the party leader, but Kishi was the party secretary, and crucially, controlled the party's finances, which thus made him the dominant force within the Democrats.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Elections in Japan were very expensive, so few candidates to the Diet could afford the costs of an election campaign out of their own pockets or could fund-raise enough money for a successful bid for the Diet. As a result, candidates to the Diet needed a steady infusion of money from the party-secretariat to run a winning campaign, which made Kishi a powerful force within the Democratic Party as he determined which candidates received money from the party-secretariat and how much.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} As a result, Democratic candidates for the Diet either seeking election for the first time or reelection were constantly seeing Kishi to seek his favor. Reflecting Kishi's power as party secretary, Hatoyama was described as an ''omikoshi'', a type of portable Shinto shrine carried around to be worshipped.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Everyone bows downs and worships an ''omikoshi'', but to move an ''omikoshi'', it must be picked up and carried by somebody.

[[File:Japan Democratic Party 1955.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Conservative leaders meet to plot the merger of the Liberal and Democratic parties in July 1955. From left to right: [[Banboku Ōno]], [[Bukichi Miki]], Nobusuke Kishi, [[Mitsujirō Ishii]]]]
In February 1955, the Democrats won the general elections. On the day after Hatoyama was sworn in as prime minister, Kishi began talks with the Liberals about merging the two parties now that his arch-enemy Yoshida had stepped down as Liberal leader.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} In November 1955, the [[Democratic Party (Japan, 1947)|Democratic Party]] and Liberal Party merged to elect [[Ichirō Hatoyama]] as the head of the new [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]]. Within the new party, Kishi once again became the party secretary with control of the party finances.{{sfn|Samuels|2001}} Kishi had reassured the American ambassador John Allison that "for the next twenty five years it would be in Japan's best interests to cooperate closely with the United States."{{sfn|Schaller|1995}}

When Hatoyama stepped down in December 1956, Kishi was considered the leading candidate to succeed him. Kishi came first in the first round in the party presidential election, but was narrowly defeated by [[Tanzan Ishibashi]] in the second due to the Ishibashi camp cooperating with the third candidate [[Mitsujirō Ishii]].{{sfn|Kitaoka|2016|p=106}} The Americans wanted Kishi to become prime minister and were disappointed when Ishibashi, the least pro-American among the major LDP figures, won the party's leadership, leading an American diplomat to write the U.S. had bet its "money on Kishi, but the wrong horse won".{{sfn|Schaller|1995}} 

Ishibashi appointed Kishi as foreign minister in his cabinet to ensure party unity, but Ishibashi soon fell ill and designated Kishi as acting prime minister at the end of January 1957. Ishibashi resigned as prime minister at the end of February 1957 and as party president in March. Kishi succeeded him in both posts.{{sfn|Kitaoka|2016|p=106}}