6. Hideki Tojo
Japan
Years in Power: 1941-1944
Up next in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time is Hideki Tojo, the Japanese Minister of War from 1940-44 and the Prime Minister from 1941-44 who was the man majorly responsible for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and consequently, the worsening of World War II, as it formally instigated the war between the United States and Japan. His domestic policies were also highly totalitarian and racist: for instance, Korean laborers working in Japan were considered lower in status than the Japanese. This provoked forced sterilization to “preserve the purity of the Yamato minzoku”. At the end of the war, Tojo was sentenced to death for an array of war crimes, which he admitted to having done, and he was executed in 1948. Although many consider Emperor Hirohito responsible for a multitude of criminal acts undertaken during the war – for he had absolute authority in the country – he was not heavily involved in the decision-making, and additionally, he was protected in the testimonies of others who declared him completely innocent.
