Eiichi Nishimura

Senior Third Rank Eiichi Nishimura
西村 英一
Acting President of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office 12 June 1980 – 15 July 1980
Vice President	Himself
Secretary-General	Yoshio Sakurauchi
Preceded by	Masayoshi Ōhira
Succeeded by	Zenkō Suzuki
Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party
In office January 1979 – November 1980
President	Masayoshi Ōhira Himself Zenkō Suzuki
Secretary-General	Kunikichi Saito Yoshio Sakurauchi
Preceded by	Funada Naka
Succeeded by	Susumu Nikaidō
Director-General of the Administrative Management Agency
In office 24 December 1976 – 1 February 1979
Prime Minister	Takeo Fukuda Masayoshi Ōhira
Preceded by	Seijuro Arafune
Succeeded by	Motohiko Kanai
Director-General of the National Land Agency
In office 26 June 1974 – 11 November 1974
Prime Minister	Kakuei Tanaka
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Hyosuke Niwa
Minister of Construction
In office 5 July 1971 – 7 July 1972
Prime Minister	Eisaku Satō
Preceded by	Nemoto Ryutaro
Succeeded by	Takeo Kimura
In office 3 December 1966 – 25 November 1967
Prime Minister	Eisaku Satō
Preceded by	Tomisaburo Hashimoto
Succeeded by	Shigeru Hori
Minister of Health
In office 18 July 1962 – 18 July 1963
Prime Minister	Hayato Ikeda
Preceded by	Hirokichi Nadao
Succeeded by	Takeji Kobayashi
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 23 May 1958 – 19 May 1980
Preceded by	Hideichi Noyori
Succeeded by	Mikio Abe
Constituency	Ōita 2nd
In office 24 January 1949 – 24 January 1955
Preceded by	Matsubara Kazuhiko
Succeeded by	Hideichi Noyori
Constituency	Ōita 2nd
Personal details
Born	(1897-08-28)28 August 1897 Higashikunisaki, Ōita, Japan
Died	15 September 1987(1987-09-15) (aged 90)
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Other political affiliations	DLP (1948–1950) LP (1950–1955)
Alma mater	Tohoku Imperial University

Eiichi Nishimura (西村 英一, Nishimura Eiichi; 28 August 1897 – 15 September 1987) was a Japanese politician, who served in the Ikeda, Satō, Tanaka and Fukuda cabinets, and was the first to be appointed to the post of Director of the National Land Agency.^[1] Within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he held influence in Eisaku Satō and Kakuei Tanaka factions, becoming known as the "king's counselor", or the one able to speak his mind with ease.^[2]

Nishimura was born on 28 August 1897, in Higashikunisaki District, Ōita.^[2] He graduated from Tohoku Imperial University in 1924.^[2]

Nishimura's first venture into public office was via the Ministry of Railways, and in the immediate postwar period he was director of the Electric Bureau of the Railway Department of the Ministry of Transport.^[2] In 1949, Nishimura won election to the House of Representatives of Japan.^[2]

In 1962, Nishimura landed his first cabinet position in the cabinet of Hayato Ikeda, serving as Minister of Health.^[1][3] He then went on to serve under Eisaku Satō, as Construction Minister, on two separate occasions.^[1][4][5][6]

In the 1970s, while Nishimura continued to serve in various cabinet posts, including as the first Director of the National Land Agency under Kakuei Tanaka, he also began to solidify his rise in the LDP, firstly as leader of the Tanaka faction within the party and then becoming vice president of the party as a whole by the end of the decade.^{[1][2][7][8][9]}

Nishimura retired from politics in 1983.^[2] He died on 15 September 1987.^[2]

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1968)^[2]
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1973)^[2]