Franz Josef Strauss

Franz Josef Strauss
Strauss in 1982
Minister-President of Bavaria
In office
6 November 1978 – 3 October 1988
Deputy
Preceded byAlfons Goppel
Succeeded byMax Streibl
Leader of the Christian Social Union
In office
18 March 1961 – 3 October 1988
General Secretary
Preceded byHanns Seidel
Succeeded byTheo Waigel
Federal Cabinet
Minister of Finance
In office
2 December 1966 – 22 October 1969
ChancellorKurt Georg Kiesinger
Preceded byKurt Schmücker
Succeeded byAlex Möller
Minister of Defence
In office
16 October 1956 – 16 December 1962
ChancellorKonrad Adenauer
Preceded byTheodor Blank
Succeeded byKai-Uwe von Hassel
Minister for Atomic Affairs
In office
20 October 1955 – 16 October 1956
ChancellorKonrad Adenauer
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded bySiegfried Balke
Minister for Special Affairs
In office
6 October 1953 – 12 October 1955
Serving with Heinrich Krone, Robert Tillmanns, Hermann Schäfer
ChancellorKonrad Adenauer
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHeinrich Krone (1961)
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the
Landtag of Bavaria
for Upper Bavaria
In office
30 October 1978 – 3 October 1988
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byHans Koller
Member of the Bundestag
for Weilheim
In office
7 September 1949 – 29 November 1978
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byHeinrich Reichold
Member of the European Parliament
for West Germany
In office
1952–1956
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Personal details
Born
Franz Josef Strauß

(1915-09-06)6 September 1915
Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire (now Bavaria, Germany)
Died3 October 1988(1988-10-03) (aged 73)
Regensburg, Bavaria, West Germany
Political partyChristian Social Union (1946–1988)
Spouse
Marianne Zwicknagl
(m. 1957; died 1984)
Children3, including Monika
Alma materLudwig Maximilian University of Munich
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Teacher
  • Civil Servant
Signature

Franz Josef Strauss (German: Strauß [fʁants ˈjoːzɛf ˈʃtʁaʊs]; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between 1953 and 1969 and minister-president of the state of Bavaria from 1978 until 1988. Strauss is also credited as a co-founder of European aerospace conglomerate Airbus.

After the 1969 federal elections, West Germany's CDU/CSU alliance found itself out of power for the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic. At this time, Strauss became more identified with the regional politics of Bavaria. While he ran for the chancellorship as the candidate of the CDU/CSU in 1980, for the rest of his life Strauss never again held federal office. From 1978 until his death in 1988, he was the head of the Bavarian government. His last two decades were marked by a fierce rivalry with CDU chairman Helmut Kohl.[1]

  1. ^ David Wilsford, ed. Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary (Greenwood, 1995) pp. 432–40.

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