After these flights the public treated Eckener as a national hero.
[5] During the early 1930s, Eckener was one of the most well-known and respected figures in Weimar Republic Germany. In the
1932 presidential election Eckener was a potential unity candidate against Adolf Hitler, encouraged to campaign by leaders of both the SPD and the Zentrum, but he bowed out when
Paul von Hindenburg decided to run for a second term.
[1][4][5][6] However, his potential candidacy had already angered the
Nazi party.
[8] In supposed anger and fear of Eckener, Hitler's de facto deputy,
Hermann Esser, once called him the "director of the flying
weisswurst (
sausage)".
[4]