Zeppelin President?

In the spring of 1932, Dr. Hugo Eckener, the director of the Zeppelin Airship Company and commander of the famous airship Graf Zeppelin was approached by the Central Party and Social Democratic Party. Both parties asked if he would be their candidate in the German presidential election. In OTL, Eckener declined, saying he would only run if the incumbent President, Paul von Hindenburg, did not run. Hindenburg did run, and after being re-elected, he appointed ex-Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler to be Chancellor of the Reich on January 30, 1933.
My question is, WI Eckener had accepted the nomination? Could he have won? And if so, what would have been different? (BTW, Eckener was an outspoken anti-Nazi who hated Hitler and was enraged when he became Chancellor.)

Thoughts?
 
This is a very interesting speculation, one I've read about elsewhere as well. Eckener was as close to an international celeb as there was in Weimar Germany, and, as a successful businessman and symbol of the Zeppelin airship, could have been a very successful opponent to Hitler and the Nazis. The possibility exists his election could have legitimized the Weimar Republic in German and foreign eyes, especially if he could have secured some concessions from the allies (such as in the Rhineland) through negotiation, rather than bluster

On the other hand, an Eckener Presidency would probably not have slowed the Nazis' electoral success in the Reichstag elections. President Eckener would still have had to deal with a very powerful Nazi block in the Reichstag, and it is far from certain the French and British really were prepared to deal with Weimar in a spirit of respect no matter who was in charge. Thus, instead of a "Reichstag Fire", I wonder if we would not have seen "some deranged communist" assissinate Dr Eckener to make way for a Nazi coup to save Germany.
 
This is a very interesting speculation, one I've read about elsewhere as well. Eckener was as close to an international celeb as there was in Weimar Germany, and, as a successful businessman and symbol of the Zeppelin airship, could have been a very successful opponent to Hitler and the Nazis. The possibility exists his election could have legitimized the Weimar Republic in German and foreign eyes, especially if he could have secured some concessions from the allies (such as in the Rhineland) through negotiation, rather than bluster

On the other hand, an Eckener Presidency would probably not have slowed the Nazis' electoral success in the Reichstag elections. President Eckener would still have had to deal with a very powerful Nazi block in the Reichstag, and it is far from certain the French and British really were prepared to deal with Weimar in a spirit of respect no matter who was in charge. Thus, instead of a "Reichstag Fire", I wonder if we would not have seen "some deranged communist" assissinate Dr Eckener to make way for a Nazi coup to save Germany.

But the next regular.Reichstags-election wasn´t before 1934. There were only elections in 1932, because Hindenburg dissolved the the Reichstag twice. With a republic-firendly president, Brüning could just sit the nazis out.
 
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