HIROHITO
Hirohito was the emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989. His reign encompassed a period of Japanese militarism that resulted in Japan’s participation in WORLD WAR II, the United States’ drop-
ping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and the United States’ military occu-
pation of Japan following Japan’s defeat. After
World War II, Hirohito’s authority changed, and
he was reduced to a ceremonial figure.
Hirohito was born in Tokyo on April 29,
1901, and was educated in Japan. He became
emperor on December 25, 1926, at a time when
Japanese parliamentary government suggested
that democracy and international cooperation
would continue to grow. However, forces within
the military sought to dominate the government
and embark on a course of expansionism within
Asia. Though he had private misgivings about
the rise of militarism,Hirohito took no action to
stop the generals. His advisers were concerned
that imperial opposition would lead to the mili-
tary overthrow of the monarchy.
As the 124th direct descendant of Japan’s first
emperor, Jimmu, Hirohito was considered sacred
and was referred to as Tenno Heika, meaning
“son of heaven.” Because Hirohito was unwilling
to exercise his divine authority against the mili-
tary, the Japanese army invaded China in 1937
Hirohito, emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989, in his
coronation robes.and in 1940 joined in a military alliance with the
Axis powers. The alliance led to Japan’s participa-
tion in World War II and its attack on Pearl Har-
bor and the United States on December 7, 1941.
The attack on the United States led to severe
consequences for Japanese Americans. On Feb-
ruary 19, 1942, President FRANKLIN D. ROO-
SEVELT issued EXECUTIVE ORDER No. 9066,
forcing the relocation of all 112,000 Japanese
Americans living on the West Coast (including
70,000 U.S. citizens) to detention camps in
places such as Jerome, Arkansas, and Heart
Mountain,Wyoming. Roosevelt issued the order
after U.S. military leaders, worried about a
Japanese invasion, argued that national security
required such drastic action.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the forced
relocation in KOREMATSU V. UNITED STATES, 323
U.S. 214, 65 S. Ct. 193, 89 L. Ed. 194 (1944). Jus-
tice HUGO L. BLACK noted that curtailing the
rights of a single racial group is constitutionally
suspect, but in this case military necessity justi-
fied the exclusion of Japanese Americans from
the West Coast. In retrospect historians have
characterized the removal and detention as the
most drastic invasion of individual CIVIL
RIGHTS by the government in U.S. history.
Hirohito gradually became more open,
within the inner circles of government, about
his desire to end the war, especially after the
United States inflicted numerous military
defeats on Japan. But many members of the mil-
itary wished to fight until the very end.With the
United States’ dropping of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Hiro-
hito pushed for the surrender of Japan. On
August 15 he broadcast Japan’s surrender to the
Allied forces. He broadcast to the Japanese peo-
ple additional messages that were credited for
the smooth transfer of power from Japan to the
U.S.military occupation force, under the leader-
ship of General Douglas MacArthur.
Although Hirohito was implicated in Japan-
ese war plans, he was exonerated in the WAR
CRIMES trials of 1946–48. He had changed the
importance of the monarchy in 1946, when he
publicly renounced his divine authority. The
1947 constitution that was written for Japan by
MacArthur and his advisers had transformed
Hirohito from a sovereign with supreme author-
ity into a “symbol of the state,” and placed control
of the government in the hands of elected offi-
cials. Hirohito had endorsed the change, which
reduced the emperor to a ceremonial figure.
Hirohito embraced the ceremonial role. He
traveled widely and became more accessible.
He also pursued his interest in marine biology.
