Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Kakuei Tanaka (田中 角栄 Tanaka
Kakuei May 4, 1918–December 16, 1993) was a Japanese politician
and the 64th and 65th Prime Minister of Japan from July 7,1972
to December 22,1972 and from December 22, 1972 to December 9,
1974 respectively. He was also the most influential member of
the ruling LDP until the mid-1980's, when he fell from power
after a long series of scandals. Tanaka was born into a rural
family with seven children in Nishiyama , Niigata Prefecture.
His father was involved with a distastrous venture to start
Niigata's first dairy farm, and so the family scraped by in
abject poverty. Kakuei left school after the equivalent of the
eighth grade and went to work in the construction business, and
soon moved to Tokyo. In 1937, while running errands for a
construction firm, Tanaka ran into an elevator occupied by the
Viscount Okochi Masatoshi , head of the Riken corporation.
Okochi, apparently impressed with Tanaka's energy and ambition,
agreed to help the young man start