Tsuneo Matsudaira

Tsuneo Matsudaira (松平 恒雄, Matsudaira Tsuneo, April 17, 1877 – November 14, 1949) was a Japanese diplomat of the 20th century.

Tsuneo Matsudaira
Matsudaira in 1932
President of the House of Councillors
In office
1947–1949
Preceded byIemasa Tokugawa (as President of the House of Peers)
Succeeded byNaotake Satō
Personal details
Born(1877-04-17)April 17, 1877
Tokyo, Empire of Japan
DiedNovember 14, 1949(1949-11-14) (aged 72)
Tokyo, Allied-Occupied Japan
SpouseNobuko Nabeshima
ChildrenSetsuko, Princess Chichibu
Matsudaira Ichiro
ParentMatsudaira Katamori (father)

Diplomatic and political career

The son of Lord Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu, Tsuneo served as Japanese Ambassador to the United States. In 1929–1935 served as Ambassador to Britain, and in that capacity represented his country at the London Conference on Naval Armaments in 1930. During that conference, he was convinced to accept the ratio in ships which appeared humiliating to the Japanese government through the persuasion efforts of one of the US delegates, Senator David A. Reed, who in return agreed to grant the Japanese government better terms on non-combatant ships.[1][2]

In 1936–1945 served as head of the Imperial Household Agency. His tenure as head of the Imperial Household Agency ended in resignation on June 4, 1945, after he took responsibility for part of the Imperial Palace burning in the American firebombing of Tokyo. During the last year of the war was among the Japanese leaders who acknowledged that the war was lost and suggested searching for early surrender.[3] After the Second World War, for a brief period in 1946, circles related to the Palace attempted to convince the Liberal Party leadership to promote Matsudaira's candidacy as Prime Minister, but the post was eventually handed to Shigeru Yoshida.[4] Tsuneo served as the first chairman of the new House of Councillors from the entry into effect of the new Japanese constitution until his death.

Family

Tsuneo was also the father of Matsudaira Setsuko, the wife of Prince Chichibu and Matsudaira Ichiro, father of Tokugawa Tsunenari the 18th Tokugawa Head Family.

Honors

From the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article

Japanese decorations
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (31 May 1924; Second Class: 1 November 1920; Third Class: 28 June 1919)
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (11 April 1931; Fourth Class: 1 April 1916; Fifth Class: 24 August 1911; Sixth Class: 1 April 1906)

Works
  • Matsudaira, Tsuneo. "Sports and Physical Training in Modern Japan," Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London, 8 (1907/1909), 120

Ancestry

References
  1. William Braisted (1991) "On the General Board of the Navy, Admiral Hilary Jones, and Naval Arms Limitation, 1921–1931" The Dwight D. Eisenhower Lectures in War & Peace, No. 4, Kansas State University "Eisenhower Lecture #5: William Braisted". Archived from the original on 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
  2. Van John Sant; Peter Mauch; Yoneyuki Sugita (1 March 2010). The A to Z of United States-Japan Relations. Scarecrow Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4617-2039-3.
  3. United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Japan's Struggle to End the War, p. 3
  4. Juha Saunavaara (2009). "Occupation Authorities, the Hatoyama Purge and the Making of Japan's Postwar Political Order". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 7 (39).
  5. "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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