List of German Chancellors, 1961 - 1981
This is my attempt at a Germany-US analogue, Part 1 of 2. It is inspired by
this, and it might be a bit eccentric. The PoD is that, pursued by a "Grand Coalition", Germany is given a FPTP voting system similar to the UK in the 50's. Also, the first chancellor steps down after two terms due to health reasons, setting an unwritten two-term limit for later chancellors.
Willy Brandt, 1961 - 1963
def. Ludwig Erhard (CDU), 1961
1961 - 63: SPD-FDP coalition
above: Brandt driven in an open car only minutes before being shot
It was Brandt's charisma that ensured the SPD its rise to power in 1961. Beloved by people of all classes, the young and charming chancellor embodied the dawn of a new decade as much as the rise of a modern, socially liberal West Germany. Being a ladies' man, he was even sung a birthday serenade by famous actress and music star Hildegard Knef. Though Brandt ran as a peacemaker, his tenure saw increasing tensions with the Eastern Bloc in the days of the Berlin Crisis. Following this, he seeked a policy of détente that was not undisputed, and that was still somewhat limited by the fact that the diplomatic and legal relationship between the two German states remained unclarified. On the domestic front, historians debate how determined Brandt really was to pursue social reform, as his shocking assassination after less than two full years in office prevented him from finishing his legacy.
Gustav Heinemann, 1963 - 1969
def.: Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), 1965
1963 - 65: SPD-FDP coalition
1965 - 69: SPD majority government
above: Heinemann defeating his social reforms in the Bundestag
There was no precedent for a chancellor's death in office. According to the constitution, the Vice Chancellor had to assume his position, but it had been left unclear whether the moved-up chancellor was expected to finish his predecessor's regular term or whether new elections were to be held as soon as possible. In accordance with then-president Heinrich Lübke, Heinemann decided that the nation was too agitated for snap elections. He therefore continued to serve as chancellor for the following two years, after which he won reelection with an astounding majority.
Being a dutiful, ascetic man, Heinemann wholeheartedly tried to deliver what Brandt had been elected for. He pursued social reform in areas like education or the penal code, and is particularly famous today for challenging society with his progressive views especially in his second term, for example when openly calling out the failures of Denazification. The latter was presumably a factor costing his party the '69 election. Another one was that Heinemann too was unable to find a satisfying solution to the question how West Germany was supposed to treat the GDR in a legal sense, resulting in a series of alarming incidents surrounding the divided city of Berlin.
Franz Josef Strauß, 1969 - 1974
def.: Helmut Schmidt (SPD), 1969; Helmut Schmidt (SPD), 1973
1969-73: CDU/CSU-FDP coalition
1973-74: CDU/CSU majority government
above: Strauß greets Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the East German "Socialist Unit Party"
In 1969, the jovial Bavarian Strauß seemed like the ideal candidate to forge together a conservative voter base. Ironically, following eight years of left-leaning rule, it needed a hardline anti-communist like him to perceptibly release tensions with Eastern Germany. Though some say the groundwork to this policy had been layed by previous governments, it must be credited at least partially to Strauß and the skilled diplomats surrounding him. The new "Ostpolitik" culminated in Strauß' 1972 visit to the GDR, something held impossible only a few years earlier. The phrase "nur Strauß konnt in die Zone gehen" was coined (= "only Strauß could go to the East"). In the same year, a Four Power Agreement finally settled the "Berlin Question". In spite of his polarising rhetorics, Strauß was seen as a successful chancellor by at least half of the population when starting his second term in 1973. Nobody expected his career to end as quickly and spectacular as it did one year later, when shady business dealings through a letterbox company and Strauß' machiavellian methods for smearing political opponents were revealed, forcing him to resign in the summer of 1974. Today, his name is synonymous with corruption and a lack of transparency.
Helmut Kohl, 1974 - 1977
1974-77: CDU/CSU majority government
above: Kohl on a 1974 party conference
After Strauß' disgraceful downfall, there was only one conservative leader left standing. It was up to the unintellectual but responsible Kohl, chairman of the CSU's sister party outside Bavaria, to take over the baton and clear the chancellorship of his predecessor's stink. Unfortunately, he had to deal with increasing economic instability resulting from the 70's oil crisis. Today, Kohl is given credit for unflinchingly maintaining the social market economy when the oil crisis caused others to hysterically overreact. But back in the days, the zeitgeist played against him. While the opposition accused him of being not keynesian enough, the growing economically liberal wing of his party gave him a hard time.
The feeling that not all of the chancellor's party stood behind him, combined with the voters' distrust of party establishment figures triggered by the Strauß affair, was it that cost Kohl the '77 election. Being the shortest-serving chancellor in history, unimposing Kohl had little time to leave a mark. Nevertheless, most historians highlight the way his consensual style of governing contrasted the polarising nature of a majority voting system. Similarly, his humble style is credited for rehabilitating the office of chancellor (although Kohl was portrayed as a clumsy fellow by contemporary satire).
Erhard Eppler, 1977 - 1981
def.: Helmut Kohl (CDU), 1977
1977-81: SPD majority government
above: Erhard Eppler on election night, 1981
Untypically, the German people were willing to vote for an outsider in the election of '77. Unexpected SPD nominee Erhard Eppler was a strong voice of the SPD's contentious and mostly young-aged left wing. Presenting himself as an anti-establishment idealist, Eppler was only able to win due to the broader crisis of confidence apparent in 1970's German politics. He came across as upright - but quite soon, this was regarded to be his
only quality. At the risk of being unjust: pretty much everything went wrong in Eppler's chancellorship. It was him who had to deal with the terror of the so-called "Red Army Faction". Eppler decided to allow negotiations with the terrorists for the sake of their hostages' lives in a 1977 plane hijacking, only to flip this position when more and more kidnappings continued to unsettle the republic in the following years. His authority was furtherly undermined by parts of the opposition linking the chancellor's alleged mildness in the face of left extremism to his own political positioning as a leftie.
Economically, Eppler's regulative policies probably worsened the situation by alienating employers and boosting the unemployment rate. On the long run, his economic policies must also be accused of setting in motion the death of Germany's once well-working, ordoliberal social-market economy by provoking the CDU to run on a platform of full-grown neoliberalism in the 1981 election. The latter was bascially unwinnable for Eppler, for numerous reasons - the most obvious being that it was overshadowed by the last "great" RAF hostage-taking crisis.
Eppler left office as one of the most unpopular chancellors, but in the years since then he managed to repair his reputation by being a voice for peace all over the world, partly by chairing and funding several NGO's. Eppler also wrote some acclaimed books and, most astoundingly, was elected to the (mostly symbolic) office of president of Germany in 2009. He is therefore so far the only person in the Federal Republic of Germany who has been both head of government and head of state.
