The head of Japan's Second World War government was executed on Dec 23rd, 1948
The head of Japan's Second World War government was executed on Dec 23rd, 1948 Japanese war criminal Tojo Hideki attempted suicide after being captured on September 8, 1945. He was rescued, cured, and then hanged. Tōjō Hideki, (born December 30, 1884, Tokyo, Japan—died December 23, 1948, Tokyo), soldier and statesman who was prime minister of Japan (1941–44) during most of the Pacific theatre portion of World War II and who was subsequently tried and executed for war crimes. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 forced the Japanese government into unconditional surrender and the country, which was in a state of collapse, was occupied by Allied forces under an eleven-nation commission headed by the United States, the Soviet Union, China and Britain. In practice, however, Japan was ruled by the Americans under General Douglas MacArthur who, so far as he took orders at all, took them from Washington. His authoritarian style would cause far more res...