Walter Scheel

Walter Scheel (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈʃeːl] ; 8 July 1919 – 24 August 2016) was a German statesman. A member of the Nazi Party who joined the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) in 1946, he first served in government as the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966 and later as President of Germany from 1974 to 1979. He led the FDP from 1968 to 1974.

Walter Scheel
Scheel in 1974
President of West Germany
In office 1 July 1974 – 30 June 1979
Chancellor	Helmut Schmidt
Preceded by	Gustav Heinemann
Succeeded by	Karl Carstens
Chancellor of West Germany
Acting 7 May 1974 – 16 May 1974
President	Gustav Heinemann
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Helmut Schmidt
Vice Chancellor of West Germany
In office 22 October 1969 – 16 May 1974
Chancellor	Willy Brandt himself (acting)
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974
Chancellor	Willy Brandt himself (acting)
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Vice President of the Bundestag (on proposal of the FDP group)
In office 8 September 1967 – 19 October 1969
President	Eugen Gerstenmaier Kai-Uwe von Hassel
Preceded by	Thomas Dehler
Succeeded by	Liselotte Funcke
Minister for Economic Cooperation
In office 14 November 1961 – 28 October 1966
Chancellor	Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Werner Dollinger
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia In office 6 October 1953 – 27 June 1974 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Karl-Hans Laermann Constituency Free Democratic Party List Member of the European Parliament for West Germany In office 1 July 1956 – 20 November 1961 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia for Remscheid In office 5 July 1950 – 13 July 1954 Preceded by Hugo Paul Succeeded by Walter Frey
Personal details
Born	Walter Scheel (1919-07-08)8 July 1919 Höhscheid, Rhine Province, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Solingen-Höhscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Died	24 August 2016(2016-08-24) (aged 97) Bad Krozingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Political party	Free Democratic Party (1946–2016)
Other political affiliations	Nazi Party (1942–1945)
Spouses	Eva Charlotte Kronenberg ​ ​ (m. 1942; died 1966)​ Mildred Wirtz ​ ​ (m. 1969; died 1985)​ Barbara Wiese ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	4
Occupation	Politician Businessman Consultant
Signature

During the chancellorship of Willy Brandt, Scheel was Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Vice Chancellor. Scheel became acting Chancellor of West Germany from 7–16 May 1974 following Brandt's resignation after the Guillaume Affair. He was elected shortly after as the president of West Germany, remaining in the role until 1979. Scheel was a member of the Protestant Church in Germany.

Early life

Scheel was born in Solingen (now in North Rhine-Westphalia). He completed his Abitur at the Reformrealgymnsasium Schwertstraße.

Scheel became a member of the Nazi Party in 1942. During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe during the last years of the war as a radar operator on a Bf 110 night fighter.

Political career

When his Free Democratic Party reentered government in a coalition with Konrad Adenauer's Christian Democratic Union in 1961, Scheel was appointed federal minister of economic cooperation and development. He continued in that office under Chancellor Ludwig Erhard but brought about the downfall of the latter in late 1966 by resigning.

A Christian Democratic/Social Democratic Grand Coalition followed. During this time, in 1968, Scheel took over the party presidency from right wing liberal Erich Mende. According to one study, the election of Walter Scheel to the FDP leadership in 1968 “represented a turn to the left and the Free Democrats then indicated their wooing of the SPD by voting for the successful Social Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Gustav Heinemann, in 1969.”

In 1969, he led his party to form a new coalition with the Social Democrats. Under Chancellor Willy Brandt, Scheel became Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Under their leadership, West Germany pursued a course of rapprochement and détente with the Soviet block and officially recognized the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This policy caused a massive public debate, with various Free and Social Democrats switching sides to the opposition. Though an attempt to oust Brandt failed, the coalition had lost its slender majority. The parliamentary stalemate was ended by the dissolution of parliament and early elections in 1972, which brought great gains for the Social Democrats and enabled the coalition to continue.

On 7 May 1974, Brandt resigned as chancellor after one of his aides, Günter Guillaume, was arrested as a spy for the East German state. Though this had been internally suspected since 1973, Brandt accepted responsibility and resigned. Scheel, as acting chancellor, chaired the government meetings for a little over a week, until Helmut Schmidt was elected. One of his first official acts as acting Chancellor was the award of the war blind radio play prize to Alfred Behrens on 8 May 1974. On 14 May, he chaired the cabinet meeting once. Hans Dietrich Genscher became Scheel's successor as party chairman and as minister.

Scheel with U.S. President Jimmy Carter, 1978

Scheel was elected President of West Germany, a week after relinquishing his other government roles. He held the office from July 1974 until June 1979. At the funeral of Hanns Martin Schleyer in October 1977, Scheel gave a speech entitled shame. After the federal presidency, Scheel was Chairman of the Bilderberg Conference as well as President of the European Movement in Germany from 1980 to 1985. From 1980 to 1989 he was also President of the German section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). He was named honorary chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in 1991.

Death

Scheel died on 24 August 2016 following a long illness. Having lived to 97 years, 47 days he holds the record as the longest-lived German head of state, either imperial or elected.

Publications

• with Karl-Hermann Flach and Werner Maihofer: Die Freiburger Thesen der Liberalen. Rowohlt, Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-499-11545-X.
• Die Zukunft der Freiheit – Vom Denken und Handeln in unserer Demokratie. Econ, 1979.
• Wen schmerzt noch Deutschlands Teilung? 2 Reden zum 17. Juni, Rowohlt, Reinbek 1986, ISBN 3-499-18346-3.
• with Otto Graf Lambsdorff: Freiheit in Verantwortung, Deutscher Liberalismus seit 1945. Bleicher, 1988, ISBN 3-88350-047-X.
• with Jürgen Engert: Erinnerungen und Einsichten. Hohenheim-Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-89850-115-9.
• with Tobias Thalhammer: Gemeinsam sind wir stärker – Zwölf erfreuliche Geschichten über Jung und Alt. Allpart Media, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86214-011-4.

Literature

• Hans-Dietrich Genscher (Hrsg.): Heiterkeit und Härte: Walter Scheel in seinen Reden und im Urteil von Zeitgenossen. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-421-06218-8.
• Hans-Roderich Schneider: Präsident des Ausgleichs. Bundespräsident Walter Scheel. Ein liberaler Politiker. Verlag Bonn aktuell, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-87959-045-1.

External links

• The German Federal Presidents