Editing Shigeru Yoshida (section)

==Second premiership==
After the fall of the Ashida Cabinet, Yoshida returned to the post of prime minister on 15 October 1948. He soon called an [[1949 Japanese general election|election]] which was held in January 1949; his party won in a landslide. 

In order to fill the places left by purged politicians, Yoshida had recruited a large number of former bureaucrats to serve as candidates for the party, including [[Hayato Ikeda]], [[Eisaku Sato]] and [[Katsuo Okazaki]]. Many of these were elected for the first time in the 1949 election. This group would be the core of Yoshida’s own informal faction, known as the ”Yoshida School."{{sfn|Dower|1988|pp=315-316}}

===Dodge Line===
[[File:Hayato Ikeda meets Joseph Dodge.jpg|thumb|left|[[Joseph Dodge]] meets Finance Minister [[Hayato Ikeda]] in 1949.]]
{{Main|Dodge Line}}
In February after the election, [[Joseph Dodge]] arrived in Japan as financial adviser to SCAP with a mission to stabilize the Japanese economy, which was suffering from rampant inflation and other problems. The [[Dodge Line]], as the plan advocated by Dodge would be called, prescribed strict austerity measures that significantly curtailed public spending and government subsidies.{{sfn|Park|2011|pp=61-65}}{{sfn|Metzler|2013|pp=120-122}}

Yoshida appointed Hayato Ikeda finance minister later the same month. Although Yoshida and Ikeda had apprehensions about the Dodge Line, they had no choice but to implement occupation policy. The plan was successful in ending hyperinflation, but it also caused severe short-term hardship. The decreased money supply led to a wave of bankruptcies and increased unemployment. Furthermore, spending cuts necessitated mass layoffs in the public sector.{{sfn|Park|2011|pp=61-65}}{{sfn|Metzler|2013|pp=122-124}}{{sfn|Metzler|2013|pp=128}}

This situation continued until the outbreak of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950. The war led to an economic boom stimulated by demand for goods and services from Japan by the American forces in Korea. Yoshida described this as a ”gift from the gods.”{{sfn|Dower|1988|p=424}}

===Treaty of San Francisco===
[[File:Yoshida signs San Francisco Peace Treaty.jpg|thumb|Yoshida signs the Treaty of San Francisco]]
In April 1950 Yoshida sent Finance Minister Ikeda, together with Ikeda’s secretary [[Kiichi Miyazawa]] and Yoshida’s confidant [[Jiro Shirasu]], to Washington. On the pretext of an economic mission, Ikeda conveyed the message that the Japanese government would accept a continued U. S. military presence after the occupation in order to ensure Japan’s security and make an early peace treaty possible.{{sfn|Eldridge|Kusunoki|1999|p=97}} President Truman assigned the responsibility of negotiating a peace treaty to [[John Foster Dulles]]. Dulles met with Yoshida in Tokyo for the first time in June 1950, only days before the outbreak of the Korean War. They subsequently met several times to negotiate the treaty.{{sfn|Eldridge|Kusunoki|1999|pp=125-126}}{{sfn|Hosoya|2013|p=210}}

In September 1951, Yoshida signed the [[Treaty of San Francisco]], a peace treaty with the Allies that would serve as a formal peace agreement and bring about the end of the occupation of Japan when the treaty took effect in April 1952. Yoshida also signed the [[Security Treaty between the United States and Japan|Security Treaty]], which inaugurated the post-war military alliance between Japan and the United States. During a stopover in [[Hawaii]] on the way back from San Francisco, he also paid a visit to [[Pearl Harbor]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/5866d71a444a498092e15e69e031eb62/japan-ex-pm-yoshidas-forgotten-pearl-harbor-visit-recounted|title=Japan ex-PM Yoshida's forgotten Pearl Harbor visit recounted|website=[[Associated Press]]|date=26 December 2016}}</ref>

===Yoshida Doctrine===
The [[Yoshida Doctrine]] was a strategy adopted by Japan under Yoshida starting in 1951. He concentrated upon reconstructing Japan's domestic economy while relying heavily on the [[Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan|security alliance with the United States]]. Firstly, Japan is firmly allied with the United States in the [[Cold War]] against communism. Secondly, Japan relies on American military strength and limits its own defense forces to a minimum. Thirdly, Japan emphasizes economic diplomacy in its world affairs. The Yoshida doctrine was accepted by the United States; the actual term was coined in 1977. The economic dimension was fostered by [[Hayato Ikeda]] who served as his finance minister and later was prime minister. The Yoshida Doctrine shaped Japanese foreign policy into the 21st century. Most historians argue the policy was wise and successful, but a minority criticize it as naïve and inappropriate.<ref>Yoneyuki  Sugita, "The Yoshida Doctrine as a myth." ''Japanese Journal of American Studies'' 27 (2016): 123-143 [http://www.jaas.gr.jp/jjas/pdf/2016/06_SUGIYAMA.pdf online].</ref>

===Conflict with Hatoyama===
[[File:Yoshida meets Hatoyama.jpg|thumb|left|Yoshida meeting with [[Ichirō Hatoyama]]]]
Before the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco Ichirō Hatoyama had been released from the purge. Since Yoshida had originally become prime minister as a replacement for Hatoyama, many expected him to step down in Hatoyama's favour, but by this time Yoshida had become a well-established politician in his own right and had no intention to retire. This led to a conflict with Hatoyama.<ref name=NDL>{{cite web |url=https://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha6/description03.html |title=6-3 Confrontation between Yoshida and Hatoyama |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2006–2010 |website=Modern Japan in archives |publisher=National Diet Library |access-date=21 June 2024 }}</ref>

According to CIA files that were declassified in 2005, there was a 1952 plot to assassinate Yoshida and replace him with Ichirō Hatoyama as prime minister. The plot was led by [[Takushiro Hattori]], who served as an [[Imperial Japanese Army]] officer, and had the support of 500,000 Japanese people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1Y1-103753957.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924205011/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1Y1-103753957.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2015|title=CIA Papers Reveal 1950s Japan Coup Plot|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=28 February 2007|access-date=11 August 2015 |via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}</ref>

Dissatisfaction with his leadership led to the defection of many Diet members from his party to the new [[Democratic Party (Japan, 1954)|Democratic Party]], causing his cabinet to resign on December 7, 1954, rather than face a no-confidence vote. He was replaced by [[Ichirō Hatoyama]] on December 10, 1954. Yoshida resigned as party president in favour of [[Taketora Ogata]] at the same time. He remained in the Diet until his retirement in 1963.