Nakasone Yasuhiro (born 1918) was a Japanese politician who helped rebuild pride in the nation and in Japan's world role. He was active in the Liberal Democratic Party for over 30 years before becoming prime minister in 1982. He served an unprecedented five years, retiring in 1987.

During the American occupation of Japan after World War II, the young politician Nakasone Yasuhiro warned that American idealism had a dark side. Yes, the Americans wanted to create a new Japan, a democratic Japan. But in return, they expected subservience, and subservience was not an attitude from which the Japanese could draw the strength necessary to rebuilding their nation. Many critics saw in Nakasone's warning an attempt to resurrect a power-oriented world, an attempt to reassert the pre-war values that had plunged Japan into war and brought defeat, values that had been discredited. In short, Nakasone made enemies, more enemies than friends. Yet it...