Biography

Born in Ōita Prefecture, Gotō was a graduate of the Law School of Tokyo Imperial University in 1909. During his early career in the 1920s, he worked in the Home Ministry, and was Director of Administration within the office of the Governor-General of Taiwan.

In the 1930s, Gotō was appointed to a seat in the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan. He served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries between 1932 and 1934 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Makoto Saitō, and was later Home Minister in the cabinet of Keisuke Okada.

Immediately after the 26 February Incident, Gotō served as acting Prime Minister while Prime Minister Okada was in hiding from his attempted assassins. He was chairman of the Taisei Yokusankai from 1941–1943, and under the administration of Hideki Tōjō, he served as a Minister of State.

Arrested by the American occupation authorities after the surrender of Japan, he was held in Sugamo Prison in Tokyo awaiting prosecution for war crimes, but was released in 1948 without trial. From April 1953 to June 1959, he served as a member of House of Councillors in the post-war Diet of Japan. He was appointed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in November 1971.

References

• {{cite book|last = Bix|first = Herbert P.|authorlink=Herbert P. Bix|year = 2001|title = Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan|publisher = Harper Perennial

• {{cite book|last = Sims|first = Richard|authorlink = |year = 2001|title = Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan|location = |isbn = 0312239157}}
• {{cite book|last = van Wolferen |first = Karel|year = 1990|title = The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation|publisher = Harper Perennial |location = |isbn = 0679728023}}