Answer
In the early 1970s, Takeo Fukuda was the most influential member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan's dominant political party. He had been prime minister from 1976 to 1978, and was widely seen as the likely successor to incumbent prime minister Kakuei Tanaka. However, in a power struggle within the LDP, Tanaka defeated Fukuda and became the most influential member of the party.