Hideki Tojo was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II, from 17 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. As Prime Minister, he was directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the war between Japan and the United States, although planning for it had begun before he entered office. After the end of the war, T?j? was arrested, sentenced to death for Japanese war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, and was hanged on 23 December 1948.