S8 Ep908: PREVIEW for Later Today: Peter Mauch provides a biographical look at Hideki Tojo, detailing how cronyism in the Imperial Japanese Army fueled his ambitions. Tojo's direct style earned him the nickname "the razor" as he rose to power.
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Joe and Zoe here from Digget and we're currently sponsored by QVC. |
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| 0:57.7 | first order over 30 pounds. For full terms, visit the QVC website. This is John Batchel, a conversation with |
| 1:04.8 | the author Peter Moke, his new book Tojo, the story of the Japanese War Minister who became the Prime Minister |
| 1:11.6 | and was the chief target of propaganda by the Allies Through the War |
| 1:16.1 | as an evil man, a man of wickedness, not accurate, according to the biography that I've read. |
| 1:23.9 | Tojo was the descendant of Samurai, extremely warrior class. However, the politics of the 1920s and 1930s made Tojo what he was as a commander. They called him the razor because he cut right to the point. He also didn't have |
| 1:46.2 | difficulty firing people or telling them bad news. He was eventually blamed for everything and hanged |
| 1:54.0 | in 1948 as a war criminal. That in itself is worthy of a great controversy. |
| 2:08.3 | This is Peter Moke on Tojo's motives for rising to power in the Imperial Army, |
| 2:17.6 | the abuse of his father by the cronyism of what were all samurai descendants. |
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