| Walter Scheel | |
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| In office 1 July 1974 – 30 June 1979 |
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| Chancellor | Helmut Schmidt |
| Preceded by | Gustav Heinemann |
| Succeeded by | Karl Carstens |
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| In office 7 May 1974 – 16 May 1974 |
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| President | Gustav Heinemann |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Helmut Schmidt |
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| In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974 |
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| Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
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| In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974 |
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| Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
| Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
| Succeeded by | Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
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| Born | 8 July 1919  Solingen, Germany |
| Political party | Free Democratic Party (Germany) |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Scheel (1932-1985) |
| Religion | Evangelicalism |
Walter Scheel (born 8 July 1919) is a German politician (FDP). He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 (following the resignation of Willy Brandt after the Guillaume Affair), and finally as President of Germany from 1974 to 1979.
He is currently the oldest former German president alive and the second longest-lived German head of state after Emperor Wilhelm I.
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Scheel was born in Solingen (now in North Rhine-Westphalia). During World War II, he served in the Luftwaffe, the last years of the war as a radar operator on a Bf 110 night fighter.
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. He returned to government as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. Due to a change in Bonn's foreign policy devised by Scheel together with Chancellor Willy Brandt, the Federal Republic of Germany in practice gave up claims on Eastern German territories occupied by Poland, Czechoslovakia and the USSR in 1945 and officially recognized the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This caused a massive public debate that led to early elections in 1972 also because some parliamentarians from the conservative wing of Scheel's party threatened to withdraw their support for the SPD/FDP coalition. The coalition was convincingly reelected and the efforts to improve relations with the countries on the other side of the iron curtain continued.
On 7 May 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 President of Germany, an office he held from July 1974 until June 1979. At the funeral of Hanns Martin Schleyer in October 1977, Scheel gave a speech entitled shame.
Scheel was Chairman of the Bilderberg Conference as well as President of the European Movement in Germany from 1980 to 1985[1] . From 1980 to 1989 he was also President of the German section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). He has been honorary chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation since 1991.
In February 1974 Scheel performed „Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen“ in a TV show, the record entered the German charts.
 Walter Scheel, Portrait by Günter Rittner 1996 |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gustav Heinemann |
President of Germany 1974 – 1979 |
Succeeded by Karl Carstens |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Foreign Minister of Germany 1969 – 1974 |
Succeeded by Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Vice Chancellor of Germany 1969 – 1974 |
Succeeded by Hans-Dietrich Genscher |
| Preceded by Willy Brandt |
Acting Chancellor of Germany 7 May – 16 May 1974 |
Succeeded by Helmut Schmidt |
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