Walter Scheel

Walter Scheel
Scheel in 1974
President of West Germany[a]
In office 1 July 1974 – 30 June 1979
Chancellor	Helmut Schmidt
Preceded by	Gustav Heinemann
Succeeded by	Karl Carstens
Chancellor of West Germany[b]
Acting 7 May 1974 – 16 May 1974
President	Gustav Heinemann
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Helmut Schmidt
Vice Chancellor of West Germany
In office 22 October 1969 – 16 May 1974
Chancellor	Willy Brandt himself (acting)
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 21 October 1969 – 16 May 1974
Chancellor	Willy Brandt himself (acting)
Preceded by	Willy Brandt
Succeeded by	Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Vice President of the Bundestag (on proposal of the FDP group)
In office 8 September 1967 – 19 October 1969
President	Eugen Gerstenmaier Kai-Uwe von Hassel
Preceded by	Thomas Dehler
Succeeded by	Liselotte Funcke
Minister for Economic Cooperation
In office 14 November 1961 – 28 October 1966
Chancellor	Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Werner Dollinger
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia In office 6 October 1953 – 27 June 1974 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Karl-Hans Laermann Constituency Free Democratic Party List Member of the European Parliament for West Germany In office 1 July 1956 – 20 November 1961 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia for Remscheid In office 5 July 1950 – 13 July 1954 Preceded by Hugo Paul Succeeded by Walter Frey
Personal details
Born	Walter Scheel (1919-07-08)8 July 1919 Höhscheid, Rhine Province, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Solingen-Höhscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Died	24 August 2016(2016-08-24) (aged 97) Bad Krozingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Political party	Free Democratic Party (1946–2016)
Other political affiliations	Nazi Party (1942–1945)
Spouses	Eva Charlotte Kronenberg ​ ​ (m. 1942; died 1966)​ Mildred Wirtz ​ ​ (m. 1969; died 1985)​ Barbara Wiese ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	4
Occupation	Politician Businessman Consultant
Signature

Walter Scheel (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈʃeːl] ^ⓘ; 8 July 1919 – 24 August 2016)^[1] was a German statesman. A member of the Nazi Party who joined the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) in 1946, he first served in government as the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966 and later as President of Germany from 1974 to 1979. He led the FDP from 1968 to 1974.^[2]

During the chancellorship of Willy Brandt, Scheel was Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Vice Chancellor. Scheel became acting Chancellor of West Germany from 7–16 May 1974 following Brandt's resignation after the Guillaume Affair. He was elected shortly after as the president of West Germany, remaining in the role until 1979. Scheel was a member of the Protestant Church in Germany.

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