Japan's postwar education system did not do enough to instill patriotism in Japan's youth, and pursued policies that would make Japanese education more openly nationalistic. By 1960, Kiyose had risen to become Speaker of the House of Representatives under the administration of Hayato Ikeda. When Kiyose became Speaker of the House, he resigned from the Liberal Democratic Party and governed as an independent, "for the sake of fairness." This was not typical for Japanese speakers of the House, but rather was Kiyose's personal habit, as he had similarly resigned his membership in the Kakushintō party after being appointed Deputy Speaker of the House following the 1928 general election. Kiyose once again garnered international attention in 1960 when, as Speaker of the House, he presided over the ramming through the Diet of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, helping spark a dramatic escalation in the Anpo protests against the Treaty. Despite his supposedly neutral status, Kiyose cooperated with conservative prime minister Nobusuke Kishi in calling for a surprise snap vote on the Treaty on May 19, 1960, in what became known as the "May 19 Incident." When opposition Japan Socialist Party Diet members barricaded Kiyose in his office in an attempt to prevent him from calling a snap vote on the Treaty, Kiyose took the drastic step of summoning 500 police officers into the Diet and having the opposition lawmakers physically dragged out of the building. He then struggled his way to the rostrum amidst the scrum with the assistance of the police officers and gaveled the vote through with only members of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party present. As a result of these seemingly undemocratic actions, the Anpo protests surged to a massive scale in June 1960, ultimately forcing the resignation of the Kishi cabinet, although the Treaty did take effect on June 23. Kiyose died on June 27, 1967. That same day, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers. References Citations Bibliography Books |- |- 1884 births 1967 deaths Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers People from Hyōgo Prefecture Kyoto University alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Empire of Japan) Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Politicians from Hyōgo Prefecture