Walter Scheel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Walter Scheel | |
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| In office July 1, 1974 – June 30, 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Gustav Heinemann |
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| Succeeded by | Karl Carstens |
| President | Gustav Heinemann |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Helmut Schmidt |
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| Born | July 8, 1919 Solingen, Germany |
| Spouse | Mildred Scheel (1932-1985) |
Walter Scheel (born Solingen July 8, 1919) is a German politician. 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 (being integrated in a government for the first time). He returned to government as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Due to his foreign policy the Federal Republic of Germany gave up claims on former territories ceded to Poland and the USSR in 1945 and officially recognized the existence of the GDR, causing a massive public debate that led to early elections in 1972. The coalition was reelected and the efforts to improve relations with the countries on the other side of the iron curtain continued.
On May 7, 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.
| 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 |
Acting Chancellor of Germany May 7 – May 16, 1974 |
Succeeded by: Helmut Schmidt |
| Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany |  |
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| Theodor Heuss • Heinrich Lübke • Gustav Heinemann • Walter Scheel • Karl Carstens • Richard von Weizsäcker • Roman Herzog • Johannes Rau • Horst Köhler
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