Documents with Commentaries

1-21 Letter, Shigeru Yoshida to Nobuaki Makino, regarding Constitutional Revision by the Government and by the Office of the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, October 13, 1945

 On October 13, 1945, the newspapers reported that Fumimaro Konoye was commissioned by the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal to draft a revised Constitution. Foreign Minster Shigeru Yoshida wrote about this to Nobuaki Makino, a former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and his father-in-law. In the letter, he mentions that the government was perplexed at the public image of the Lord Keeper actively starting to work on the constitutional problem, and that the Cabinet met to find a solution at the extraordinary meeting on that day. The government announced that Minister of State Joji Matsumoto would be in charge of the study of constitutional revision, indicating the government was taking on the problem. The government took care to present the impression that they were not working separately from the Office of the Lord Keeper. Still, the work done in the Office of the Lord Keeper stimulated the government to press on with preparations which resulted in establishing the Constitutional Problems Investigation Committee on October 25.

Actual Title of Source Yoshida Shigeru Shokan Makino Nobuaki Ate
Date July to August, 1945
Document Number Makino Nobuaki Papers, Correspondence Section: 659-46
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