Unlike the (Social Democrat) Gerhard Schroeder who was Chancellor in 1998-2005 in OTL, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder *this* one was a Christian Democrat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder_(CDU)
Schroeder was born in Saarbruecken, the son of a state railway official. He served in the German army during the war. In 1949 he was elected to the Bundestag, and served as minister of the interior from 1953 until his 1961 appointment as Foreign Minister. According to Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress "He was a prominent member of the Protestant wing of the CDU and was a firm advocate of the Western alliance." (*A History of West Germany, Volume One: From Shadow to Substance 1945-1963* [2nd edition 1993], p. 478) As an "Atlanticist", he wanted to be sure that the budding German-French rapprochement would not be at the expense of relations with the US. OTOH, he was more open to detente with the USSR and eastern Europe than Adenauer had been.
In any event, according to Bark and Gress, "In the late winter of 1962-3 it seemed, for a moment, as though Schroeder might be the only candidate of the Atlanticist-Protestant wing not only to have the party's, but also Adenauer's confidence." (p. 519) Adenauer, though he had promised the FDP in 1961 that he would resign before the next election, was reluctant to do so, especially since he had little faith in Ludwig Erhard as his successor. As Adenauer put it, "A man can be the best possible economics minister without having the same understanding of political matters." Nevertheless, there was probably no way to stop Erhard; by 1963 the pressures on Adenauer to resign were overwhelming, and Erhard had great prestige and few enemies, whereas Schroeder was viewed with suspicion by conservative Catholics. Schroeder in fact actively discouraged those who tried to draft him for a candidacy, and other potential candidates like Eugen Gerstenmaier and Josef Hermann Dufhues did not really have much of a chance.
So it seems that to get a Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1963 we have to get something happening to put Erhard out of the running. Health problems or an accident are one possibility. Or, as someone suggested when I raised this question in soc.history.what-if years ago, "The most elegant solution for this would have been making Erhard agree to become federal president in 1959. Being West Germany's most popular politician from about 1955 to 1965 (far ahead of Adenauer) he would have been the ideal solution to follow "Daddy Heuss". The office as head of state would have suited his personality much more than becoming chancellor. There his reminders ("Masshalteapelle") also could have had even greater effect as he wouldn't have been forced to fight a chancellors every-day struggles of"party politics". Something he always despised and had no talent for..." https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/Jiud_d6niYY/LKXufkLWneQJ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder_(CDU)
Schroeder was born in Saarbruecken, the son of a state railway official. He served in the German army during the war. In 1949 he was elected to the Bundestag, and served as minister of the interior from 1953 until his 1961 appointment as Foreign Minister. According to Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress "He was a prominent member of the Protestant wing of the CDU and was a firm advocate of the Western alliance." (*A History of West Germany, Volume One: From Shadow to Substance 1945-1963* [2nd edition 1993], p. 478) As an "Atlanticist", he wanted to be sure that the budding German-French rapprochement would not be at the expense of relations with the US. OTOH, he was more open to detente with the USSR and eastern Europe than Adenauer had been.
In any event, according to Bark and Gress, "In the late winter of 1962-3 it seemed, for a moment, as though Schroeder might be the only candidate of the Atlanticist-Protestant wing not only to have the party's, but also Adenauer's confidence." (p. 519) Adenauer, though he had promised the FDP in 1961 that he would resign before the next election, was reluctant to do so, especially since he had little faith in Ludwig Erhard as his successor. As Adenauer put it, "A man can be the best possible economics minister without having the same understanding of political matters." Nevertheless, there was probably no way to stop Erhard; by 1963 the pressures on Adenauer to resign were overwhelming, and Erhard had great prestige and few enemies, whereas Schroeder was viewed with suspicion by conservative Catholics. Schroeder in fact actively discouraged those who tried to draft him for a candidacy, and other potential candidates like Eugen Gerstenmaier and Josef Hermann Dufhues did not really have much of a chance.
So it seems that to get a Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1963 we have to get something happening to put Erhard out of the running. Health problems or an accident are one possibility. Or, as someone suggested when I raised this question in soc.history.what-if years ago, "The most elegant solution for this would have been making Erhard agree to become federal president in 1959. Being West Germany's most popular politician from about 1955 to 1965 (far ahead of Adenauer) he would have been the ideal solution to follow "Daddy Heuss". The office as head of state would have suited his personality much more than becoming chancellor. There his reminders ("Masshalteapelle") also could have had even greater effect as he wouldn't have been forced to fight a chancellors every-day struggles of"party politics". Something he always despised and had no talent for..." https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.history.what-if/Jiud_d6niYY/LKXufkLWneQJ
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