Despite the undeniable importance of Japan in world affairs, both politically and economically, the office of the Japanese prime minister has recieved far less attention from scholars than have the top political offices in other advanced industrialized democracies.  This book is the first major systemic analysis of the Japanese prime minister’s role and influence in the policy process.

Kenji Hayao argues that the Japanese prime minister can play a major if not critical role in bringing about a change in policy.  In Japan the prime minister’s style is different from what is considered usual for parliamentary leaders: rather than being strong and assertive, he tends to be reactive.  How did the role develop in this way?  If he is not a major initiator of policy change, how and under what conditions can the prime minister make his impact felt?  Finally, what are the consequences of this rather weak leadership?

In answering these questions, Professor Hayao presents two case studies (educational reform and reform of the tax system) involving Nakasone Yasuhiro to see how he be became involved in the policy issues and how he affected the process.  Hayao then examines a number of broad forces that seem important in explaining the prime minister’s role in the policy process: how a leader is chosen; his relationships with other important actors in the political system - the  political parties and the subgovernments; and the structure of his “inner” staff and advisors.

The first serious study of his discourse in nearly a quarter century, John F. Kennedy and the Liberal Persuasion examines the major speeches of Kennedy’s presidency, from his famed but controversial inaugural address to his belated but powerful demand for civil rights. It argues that his eloquence flowed from his capacity to imagine anew the American liberal tradition—Kennedy insisted on the intrinsic moral worth of each person, and his language sought to make that ideal real in public life. This book focuses on that language and argues that presidential words matter. Kennedy’s legacy rests in no small part on his rhetoric, and here Murphy maintains that Kennedy’s words made him a most consequential president. By grounding the study of these speeches both in the texts themselves and in their broader linguistic and historical contexts, the book draws a new portrait of President Kennedy, one that not only recognizes his rhetorical artistry but also places him in the midst of public debates with antagonists and allies, including Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Richard Russell, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Ultimately this book demonstrates how Kennedy’s liberal persuasion defined the era in which he lived and offers a powerful model for Americans today.