Suzuki was appointed prime minister following the sudden death of
Masayoshi Ōhira, who died of a
heart attack during a general election campaign. The sympathy vote generated by Ohira's death resulted in a landslide for the ruling LDP, handing Suzuki the largest
parliamentary majority any prime minister had enjoyed for many years. A
major scandal erupted in 1982 when
South Korea and
China objected to the rewording of Japanese school textbooks to minimize the role of
Japanese aggression in World War II. Suzuki vowed the changes would not be made to avoid offending Japan's economically important neighbors. This drew the ire of right-wing members of the LDP who believed it the issue to be an internal one and severely weakened his standing within the party. He chose not to run for reelection to the presidency of the LDP in 1982, and was succeeded by
Yasuhiro Nakasone. He served during a period of instability; cabinet members frequently changed, and parties were often split by fractional politics. His diplomatic skills allowed him to chair his party's executive council ten times, winning him support in his early career. Despite his foreign policy gaffes as prime minister, he later helped further foreign relations with the
United States, during a 1988 summit with
Ronald Reagan. and advocated and protected
free trade. ==Personal life and death==