The fact that only held office for 54 days may be due to the fact that he became Prime Minister at an extremely difficult time when a large number of military personnel advocated the continuation of the war (Refer to the Kyujo [place where Emperor lives] Incident) and this was at the time of the broadcast of the Emperor's announcement of Japan's surrender as well as an Imperial family member, Nashimoto no Miya was arrested, thus some say that it was only Prime Minister Naruhiko Higashikuninomiya who could pull the country through the crisis.
総理在任期間は54日と最短であるものの、玉音放送の時点では戦争継続を唱える軍人も少なくなかったり（宮城事件参照）、同じ皇族の梨本宮も逮捕されるという非常に困難な時期に総理となったわけで、東久邇宮稔彦首相でなければこの急場を凌げなかったとも言われる。