(b. Höhschied, 8 July 1919) German; President of the Federal Republic of Germany 1974 – 9, leader of the FDP 1968 – 74 After grammar school, Scheel completed a banking apprenticeship, before being called up for military service. He served as a lieutenant in the air force from 1939 to 1945. Then he worked in his stepfather's scissors factory in Solingen before acting as secretary for various trade associations. In 1946 Scheel joined the Liberal FDP, representing the party first (1950) in the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and then from 1953 in the Bundestag. In 1958 his party sent him to the European parliament, where he chaired the committee for co-operation with the developing countries. This led to his appointment as Minister for Economic Co-operation in the last Adenauer government of 1961.
When the FDP lost office in 1966 Scheel identified himself with the liberal wing of his party and was elected chairman in 1968. He helped to persuade his colleagues to vote for Heinemann (SPD) as President of West Germany in 1969. This paid off as it led to the formation of the SPD-FDP coalition in October 1969 in which Scheel was appointed Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister. He played his part with Brandt in improving West Germany's relations with the Soviet bloc and in taking the Federal Republic into the UN in 1973. He was less successful in maintaining unity in his party and could do nothing to prevent a right-wing breakaway in 1970. He kept those who remained in the coalition with Brandt. In this the FDP prospered, increasing its vote from 5.8 per cent in 1969 to 8.4 per cent in 1972.
In 1974 Scheel was elected President of the Federal Republic and served until 1979.
Walter Scheel
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| Walter Scheel | |
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| In office 1 July 1974 – 28 June 1979 |
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| Chancellor | Helmut Schmidt |
| Preceded by | Gustav Heinemann |
| Succeeded by | Karl Carstens |
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| In office 7 May 1974 – 16 May 1974 |
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| President | Gustav Heinemann |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Helmut Schmidt |
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| In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974 |
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| Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
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| In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974 |
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| Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
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| Born | 8 July 1919 .svg){kind=small} Solingen, Germany |
| Political party | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Scheel (1932-1985) |
| Religion | Evangelicalism |
Walter Scheel (born 8 July 1919) is a German politician (FDP). As of 2009, he is the oldest former German president alive and the second longest-lived German head of state after Emperor Wilhelm I.
Biography
Scheel was born in Solingen (now in North Rhine-Westphalia). During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe, the last years of the war as a radar operator on a Bf 110 night fighter.
As federal minister of economic cooperation and development (1961-1966), he brought about the downfall of the Erhard government in late 1966, when he took the Free Democratic Party, which he led, out of the coalition government.
In 1969, he enabled his party to form a new coalition with the Social Democrats. He returned to government as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Due to a change in Bonn's foreign policy devised by Scheel together with Chancellor Willy Brandt, the Federal Republic of Germany gave up claims on former territories ceded to Poland, Czechoslovakia and the USSR in 1945 and officially recognized the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This caused a massive public debate that led to early elections in 1972 also because some parliamentarians from the conservative wing of Scheel's party threatened to withdraw their support for the SPD/FDP coalition. The coalition was convincingly reelected and the efforts to improve relations with the countries on the other side of the iron curtain continued.
On 7 May 1974, Brandt resigned as Chancellor after one of his personal assistants, 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 Chancellor.
At that time, Scheel was elected Federal President of West Germany, a post he held from July 1974 until June 1979. He largely retreated to private life after his term of office expired, though he sometimes appears on political talk shows or events. At the funeral of Hanns Martin Schleyer in October 1977, Scheel gave a speech entitled shame.
 Walter Scheel, Portrait by Günter Rittner 1996 |
External links
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| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Gustav Heinemann |
President of Germany 1974 – 1979 |
Succeeded by Karl Carstens |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs 1969 – 1974 |
Succeeded by Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Vice Chancellor of Germany 1969 – 1974 |
Succeeded by Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Acting Chancellor of Germany 7 May – 16 May 1974 |
Succeeded by Helmut Schmidt |
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 | Political Biography. A Dictionary of Political Biography. Copyright © 1998, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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