Ludwig Erhard
Encyclopedia
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (ˈluːdvɪk ˈɛʁhaʁt; 4 February 1897–5 May 1977) was a German
politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany
from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery ("Wirtschaftswunder
", German for "economic miracle"), particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
in 1949 to his own ascension to the Chancellorship in 1963.
, Kingdom of Bavaria
, from 1913 to 1916 Erhard was a commercial apprentice. After his apprenticeship he worked as retail salesman in his father's draper's shop.
He joined the German forces during World War I
1916 as an artillery
man, fought in Romania
and was seriously injured near Ypres
in 1918. Erhard could no longer work as a draper and began to study economics
, first in Nuremberg, later in Frankfurt am Main. He received his PhD
from Franz Oppenheimer
in 1925.
During his time in Frankfurt he married Luise Lotter (1893–1975), widow Schuster, on 11 December 1923. After his graduation they moved to Fürth and he became executive in his parents' company in 1925. After three years he became assistant at the Institut für Wirtschaftsbeobachtung der deutschen Fertigware, a marketing research
institute. Later, he became deputy director of the institute.
Due to his injuries, Erhard did not have to join the German military forces during World War II
. Instead, he worked on concepts for a postwar peace; however, officially such studies were forbidden by the Nazis, who had declared total war
. As a result, Erhard lost his job in 1942 but continued to work on the subject by order of the "Reichsgruppe Industrie". In 1944 he wrote War Finances and Debt Consolidation (orig: Kriegsfinanzierung und Schuldenkonsolidierung). In this study he assumed that Germany had already lost the war. He sent his thoughts to Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
, a central figure in the German resistance against the Nazi government, who recommended Erhard to his comrades. Erhard discussed his concept with Otto Ohlendorf
, deputy secretary of state in the Reichsministerium für Wirtschaft, as well. Ohlendorf himself spoke out for "active and courageous entrepreneurship (aktives und wagemutiges Unternehmertum)", which was intended to replace bureaucratic state planning of the economy after the war. Erhard was an outsider who supported the resistance, who personally and professionally rejected Nazism, and who endorsed efforts to effect a sensitive, intelligent approach to economic revival during the approaching postwar period. On the other hand he signed off his letters with 'Heil Hitler!' and he embraced annexationist policies that continued to influence his economic policies as finance minister and chancellor during the postwar period.
military administration of Bavaria
who made him Minister of Economics in the Bavarian cabinet of Wilhelm Hoegner
. After the American and British
administration had created the Bizone
, Erhard became chairman of the Sonderstelle Geld und Kredit in 1947, an expert commission preparing the currency reform. The newly created Special Department for Money and Credit in Germany's western zones of occupation in September 1947, under Erhard, focused attention immediately upon the general theme of monetary and financial recovery, resulting in the adoption of the so-called Homburg plan in April 1948 that set the stage for the recovery of the economy.
In 1948 he was elected Director of Economics by the Bizonal Economic Council. On 20 June 1948, the Deutsche Mark was introduced. Erhard abolished the price-fixing and production controls that had been enacted by the military administration. This exceeded his authority, but he succeeded with this courageous step.
, Erhard stood for election in a Baden-Württemberg
district and was elected. In September, he was appointed Minister of Economics in the first cabinet of Konrad Adenauer
, and kept the post for all 14 years of Adenauer's tenure. His party made his concept of social market economy
part of the party platform.
A staunch believer in economic liberalism, Erhard joined the Mont Pelerin Society
in 1950 and used this influential body of neoliberal economic and political thinkers to test his ideas for the reorganization of the West German economy. Some of the society's members were members of the Allied High Commission and Erhard was able to make his case directly to them. The Mont Pélerin Society welcomed Erhard because this gave its members the opportunity to have their ideas tested in real life, something that had been lacking. Late in the 1950s, Erhard's ministry became involved in the struggle within the society between the European and the Anglo-American factions and sided with the former. Erhard viewed the market itself as social and supported only a minimum of welfare legislation. However Erhard suffered a series of decisive defeats in his effort to create a free, competitive economy in 1957; he had to compromise on such key issues as the anti-cartel legislation. Thereafter, the West German economy evolved into a conventional social market economy coped with strong welfare state
institutions in the spirit predominant in German society since the days of Bismarck
.
In July 1948, a group of southwest German businessmen attacked the restrictive credit policy of Economic Director Erhard. While Erhard had designed the policy to assure currency stability and stimulate the economy via consumption, business feared the scarcity of investment capital would retard economic recovery. He was deeply critical of a bureaucratic-institutional integration of Europe on the model of the European Coal and Steel Community
.
Erhard's decision, as economics director for the British and American occupation zones, to lift many price controls in 1948, despite opposition from both the social democratic opposition and Allied authorities, and his consistent advocacy of free markets, helped set the Federal Republic on its phenomenal growth path. Erhard's financial and economic policies soon proved widely popular as the German economy made a "miracle" recovery to rapid growth and widespread prosperity in the 1950s, overcoming wartime destruction and successfully integrating millions of refugees from the east
.
, the leader in Moscow, massive economic aid in exchange for more political liberty in East Germany and eventually for reunification. Erhard believed that if West Germany were to offer a "loan" worth $25 billion US to the Soviet Union (which Erhard did not expect to be repaid), then the Soviet Union would permit German reunification. The acting American Secretary of State George Wildman Ball described Erhard's plan to essentially buy East Germany from the Soviet Union as "half-baked and unrealistic". Erhard's objective corresponded in time with Khrushchev rethinking his relations to West Germany. The Soviet leader secretly encouraged Erhard to present a realistic proposal for a 'modus vivendi' and officially accepted the chancellor's invitation to visit Bonn. However, Khrushchev fell from power in October 1964, and nothing developed. Perhaps more importantly, by late 1964, the Soviet Union had received a vast series of loans from the international money markets, and no longer felt the need for Erhard's money.
Erhard believed the major world problems were soluble through free trade and the economic unity of Europe (as a prerequisite for political unification); he alienated French president Charles de Gaulle
, who wanted the opposite. Support for the American role in the Vietnam War
proved fatal for Erhard's coalition. Through his endorsement of the American goal of military victory in Vietnam, Erhard sought closer collaboration with Washington and less with Paris. Erhard's policy complicated Allied initiatives toward German unification, a dilemma that the United States placed on the back burner as it focused on Southeast Asia. Erhard failed to understand that American global interests—not Europe's needs—dictated policy in Washington, D.C.
, and he rejected Adenauer's policy of fostering good relations with both the United States and France in the pursuit of West German national interest. Faced with a dangerous budget deficit in the 1966–1967 recession
, Erhard fell from office in part because of concessions that he made during a visit to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
.
In 1961, while vice president
, Johnson had hosted Konrad Adenauer some two years before the German statesman vacated the chancellorship of the German Federal Republic. In December 1963, less than a month after he had assumed the American presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy
, Johnson staged the first ever presidential barbecue
in Erhard's honor. The event was held in and about the Stonewall High School gymnasium
in Stonewall
in the Texas Hill Country
. Among the entertainers was the internationally known concert pianist
Van Cliburn
, who appeared in a business suit, rather than his usual formal wear. As a member of the Texas House of Representatives
, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., Johnson's father, been sensitive to his German-American constituency and had opposed the Creel Committee
's attempt to disparage German culture and isolate German-Americans during World War I
. Adenauer and Erhard had also stayed at Johnson's ranch in Gillespie County
.
Erhard's fall suggested that progress on German unification required a broader approach and a more active foreign policy. Chancellor Willy Brandt
in the late 1960s abandoned the Hallstein doctrin of previous chancellors and employed a new "Ostpolitik
", seeking improved relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and thereby laying the groundwork for détente and coexistence between East and West. In the 1980s Chancellor Helmut Kohl
, however, reverted to Erhard's approach in collaborating with the Reagan administration
in its hard-line anti-Soviet policy.
(FDP) resigned, protesting against the budget released the day before. The other ministers who were members of the FDP followed his example — the coalition was broken. On 1 December, Erhard resigned. His successor was Kurt Georg Kiesinger
(CDU), who formed a grand coalition
with the SPD.
Erhard continued his political work by remaining a member of the West German parliament until his death in Bonn
on 5 May 1977. He was buried in Gmund
, near the Tegernsee
. The Ludwig Erhard-Berufsschule (professional college) in Paderborn
, Fürth and Münster
are named in his honour.
Changes
Changes
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery ("Wirtschaftswunder
Wirtschaftswunder
The term describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II . The expression was used by The Times in 1950...
", German for "economic miracle"), particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
in 1949 to his own ascension to the Chancellorship in 1963.
Life and work
Born in FürthFürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
, Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
, from 1913 to 1916 Erhard was a commercial apprentice. After his apprenticeship he worked as retail salesman in his father's draper's shop.
He joined the German forces during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
1916 as an artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
man, fought in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and was seriously injured near Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
in 1918. Erhard could no longer work as a draper and began to study economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, first in Nuremberg, later in Frankfurt am Main. He received his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from Franz Oppenheimer
Franz Oppenheimer
Franz Oppenheimer was a German-Jewish sociologist and political economist, who published also in the area of the fundamental sociology of the state.-Personal life:...
in 1925.
During his time in Frankfurt he married Luise Lotter (1893–1975), widow Schuster, on 11 December 1923. After his graduation they moved to Fürth and he became executive in his parents' company in 1925. After three years he became assistant at the Institut für Wirtschaftsbeobachtung der deutschen Fertigware, a marketing research
Marketing research
Marketing research is "the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information — information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve...
institute. Later, he became deputy director of the institute.
Due to his injuries, Erhard did not have to join the German military forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Instead, he worked on concepts for a postwar peace; however, officially such studies were forbidden by the Nazis, who had declared total war
Total war
Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population.In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare...
. As a result, Erhard lost his job in 1942 but continued to work on the subject by order of the "Reichsgruppe Industrie". In 1944 he wrote War Finances and Debt Consolidation (orig: Kriegsfinanzierung und Schuldenkonsolidierung). In this study he assumed that Germany had already lost the war. He sent his thoughts to Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler was a monarchist conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant and opponent of the Nazi regime...
, a central figure in the German resistance against the Nazi government, who recommended Erhard to his comrades. Erhard discussed his concept with Otto Ohlendorf
Otto Ohlendorf
Otto Ohlendorf was a German SS-Gruppenführer and head of the Inland-SD , a section of the SD. Ohlendorf was the commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe D, which conducted mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and, during 1942, the north Caucasus...
, deputy secretary of state in the Reichsministerium für Wirtschaft, as well. Ohlendorf himself spoke out for "active and courageous entrepreneurship (aktives und wagemutiges Unternehmertum)", which was intended to replace bureaucratic state planning of the economy after the war. Erhard was an outsider who supported the resistance, who personally and professionally rejected Nazism, and who endorsed efforts to effect a sensitive, intelligent approach to economic revival during the approaching postwar period. On the other hand he signed off his letters with 'Heil Hitler!' and he embraced annexationist policies that continued to influence his economic policies as finance minister and chancellor during the postwar period.
Postwar
After the war, Erhard became economic consultant for the AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military administration of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
who made him Minister of Economics in the Bavarian cabinet of Wilhelm Hoegner
Wilhelm Hoegner
Wilhelm Hoegner was the second Bavarian prime minister after World War II and father of the Bavarian constitution. He has been the only Social Democrat to hold this office....
. After the American and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
administration had created the Bizone
Bizone
The Bizone, or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones in 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone in March 1948, the entity became the Trizone...
, Erhard became chairman of the Sonderstelle Geld und Kredit in 1947, an expert commission preparing the currency reform. The newly created Special Department for Money and Credit in Germany's western zones of occupation in September 1947, under Erhard, focused attention immediately upon the general theme of monetary and financial recovery, resulting in the adoption of the so-called Homburg plan in April 1948 that set the stage for the recovery of the economy.
In 1948 he was elected Director of Economics by the Bizonal Economic Council. On 20 June 1948, the Deutsche Mark was introduced. Erhard abolished the price-fixing and production controls that had been enacted by the military administration. This exceeded his authority, but he succeeded with this courageous step.
Economics minister
In the first free elections following the Nazi eraGerman federal election, 1949
The 1st German federal election, 1949, was conducted on 14 August 1949, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany. This was the first free election conducted in Germany since Adolf Hitler had become Reich Chancellor in 1933....
, Erhard stood for election in a Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
district and was elected. In September, he was appointed Minister of Economics in the first cabinet of Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
, and kept the post for all 14 years of Adenauer's tenure. His party made his concept of social market economy
Social market economy
The social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
part of the party platform.
A staunch believer in economic liberalism, Erhard joined the Mont Pelerin Society
Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society is an international organization composed of economists , philosophers, historians, intellectuals, business leaders, and others who favour classical liberalism...
in 1950 and used this influential body of neoliberal economic and political thinkers to test his ideas for the reorganization of the West German economy. Some of the society's members were members of the Allied High Commission and Erhard was able to make his case directly to them. The Mont Pélerin Society welcomed Erhard because this gave its members the opportunity to have their ideas tested in real life, something that had been lacking. Late in the 1950s, Erhard's ministry became involved in the struggle within the society between the European and the Anglo-American factions and sided with the former. Erhard viewed the market itself as social and supported only a minimum of welfare legislation. However Erhard suffered a series of decisive defeats in his effort to create a free, competitive economy in 1957; he had to compromise on such key issues as the anti-cartel legislation. Thereafter, the West German economy evolved into a conventional social market economy coped with strong welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
institutions in the spirit predominant in German society since the days of Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
.
In July 1948, a group of southwest German businessmen attacked the restrictive credit policy of Economic Director Erhard. While Erhard had designed the policy to assure currency stability and stimulate the economy via consumption, business feared the scarcity of investment capital would retard economic recovery. He was deeply critical of a bureaucratic-institutional integration of Europe on the model of the European Coal and Steel Community
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union...
.
Erhard's decision, as economics director for the British and American occupation zones, to lift many price controls in 1948, despite opposition from both the social democratic opposition and Allied authorities, and his consistent advocacy of free markets, helped set the Federal Republic on its phenomenal growth path. Erhard's financial and economic policies soon proved widely popular as the German economy made a "miracle" recovery to rapid growth and widespread prosperity in the 1950s, overcoming wartime destruction and successfully integrating millions of refugees from the east
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
.
Chancellor, 1963–66
After the resignation of Adenauer in 1963, Erhard was elected Chancellor with 279 against 180 votes in the Bundestag on 16 October. In 1965, he was re-elected. From 1966 to 1967, he also headed the Christian Democratic Union as de facto chairman, despite the fact that he was never a member of that party (which made his election to the chairmanship irregular and void de jure), as he never formally filed a membership application despite pressures from Chancellor Adenauer. The reasons for Erhard's reluctance are unknown, but it is probable that they stemmed from Erhard's general scepticism about party politics. However, Erhard was regarded and treated as a long-time CDU member and as the party chairman by almost everyone in Germany at the time, including the vast majority of the CDU itself. The fact that he was not a member was known only to a very small circle of party leaders at the time, and it did not become known to the public until the year 2007, when the silence was finally broken by Erhard's close advisor Horst Wünsche.Foreign policy
Erhard explored using money to make possible reunification of Germany. Despite Washington's reluctance, Erhard envisaged offering Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, the leader in Moscow, massive economic aid in exchange for more political liberty in East Germany and eventually for reunification. Erhard believed that if West Germany were to offer a "loan" worth $25 billion US to the Soviet Union (which Erhard did not expect to be repaid), then the Soviet Union would permit German reunification. The acting American Secretary of State George Wildman Ball described Erhard's plan to essentially buy East Germany from the Soviet Union as "half-baked and unrealistic". Erhard's objective corresponded in time with Khrushchev rethinking his relations to West Germany. The Soviet leader secretly encouraged Erhard to present a realistic proposal for a 'modus vivendi' and officially accepted the chancellor's invitation to visit Bonn. However, Khrushchev fell from power in October 1964, and nothing developed. Perhaps more importantly, by late 1964, the Soviet Union had received a vast series of loans from the international money markets, and no longer felt the need for Erhard's money.
Erhard believed the major world problems were soluble through free trade and the economic unity of Europe (as a prerequisite for political unification); he alienated French president Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, who wanted the opposite. Support for the American role in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
proved fatal for Erhard's coalition. Through his endorsement of the American goal of military victory in Vietnam, Erhard sought closer collaboration with Washington and less with Paris. Erhard's policy complicated Allied initiatives toward German unification, a dilemma that the United States placed on the back burner as it focused on Southeast Asia. Erhard failed to understand that American global interests—not Europe's needs—dictated policy in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and he rejected Adenauer's policy of fostering good relations with both the United States and France in the pursuit of West German national interest. Faced with a dangerous budget deficit in the 1966–1967 recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
, Erhard fell from office in part because of concessions that he made during a visit to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
.
In 1961, while vice president
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, Johnson had hosted Konrad Adenauer some two years before the German statesman vacated the chancellorship of the German Federal Republic. In December 1963, less than a month after he had assumed the American presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Johnson staged the first ever presidential barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
in Erhard's honor. The event was held in and about the Stonewall High School gymnasium
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
in Stonewall
Stonewall, Texas
Stonewall is a census-designated place in Gillespie County, Texas, United States. The population was 469 at the 2000 census. It was named for Thomas J. Jackson, by Israel P. Nunez, who established a stage station near the site in 1870....
in the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
. Among the entertainers was the internationally known concert pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Van Cliburn
Van Cliburn
Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. is an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at age 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War....
, who appeared in a business suit, rather than his usual formal wear. As a member of the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr., Johnson's father, been sensitive to his German-American constituency and had opposed the Creel Committee
George Creel
George Creel was an investigative journalist, a politician, and, most famously, the head of the United States Committee on Public Information, a propaganda organization created by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. He said of himself that "an open mind is not part of my inheritance...
's attempt to disparage German culture and isolate German-Americans during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Adenauer and Erhard had also stayed at Johnson's ranch in Gillespie County
Gillespie County, Texas
Gillespie County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2010, its population was 24,837. It is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Gillespie is named for Robert Addison Gillespie, who came to Texas in 1837. He was a Texas Ranger, an Indian fighter, a...
.
Erhard's fall suggested that progress on German unification required a broader approach and a more active foreign policy. Chancellor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
in the late 1960s abandoned the Hallstein doctrin of previous chancellors and employed a new "Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
", seeking improved relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and thereby laying the groundwork for détente and coexistence between East and West. In the 1980s Chancellor Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
, however, reverted to Erhard's approach in collaborating with the Reagan administration
Reagan Administration
The United States presidency of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Reagan administration, was a Republican administration headed by Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1981, to January 20, 1989....
in its hard-line anti-Soviet policy.
Resignation and retirement
On 26 October 1966, Minister Walter ScheelWalter Scheel
Walter Scheel is a German politician . 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 , and finally as President of the Federal...
(FDP) resigned, protesting against the budget released the day before. The other ministers who were members of the FDP followed his example — the coalition was broken. On 1 December, Erhard resigned. His successor was Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.-Early career and wartime activities:...
(CDU), who formed a grand coalition
Grand coalition
A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...
with the SPD.
Erhard continued his political work by remaining a member of the West German parliament until his death in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
on 5 May 1977. He was buried in Gmund
Gmund am Tegernsee
Gmund am Tegernsee is a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is located on the north shore of the Tegernsee Lake, and near the source of River Mangfall...
, near the Tegernsee
Tegernsee
Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Tegernsee lake, at an elevation of 747 m above sea level....
. The Ludwig Erhard-Berufsschule (professional college) in Paderborn
Paderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
, Fürth and Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
are named in his honour.
Erhard's First Ministry (16 October 1963 – 26 October 1965)
- Ludwig Erhard (CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
) – Chancellor - Erich MendeErich MendeDr. Erich Mende was a German politician of the FDP and CDU. He was the leader of FDP 1960 - 1968.-Early life:Mende was born in Gross-Strehlitz, Upper Silesia,...
(FDP) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of All-German Affairs - Gerhard SchröderGerhard Schröder (CDU)Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(CDU) – Minister of Foreign Affairs - Kai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von Hassel was a German politician from Schleswig-Holstein associated with the CDU party.Von Hassel was born in Gare, German East Africa ....
(CDU) – Minister of Defense - Hermann HöcherlHermann HöcherlHermann Höcherl was a Nazi politician, volunteer Wehrmacht soldier and after the war German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ....
(CSU) – Minister of the Interior - Rolf DahlgrünRolf DahlgrünRolf Dahlgrün was a German politician for the FDP. From 1962 to 1966 he was Minister of Finance.-Life:Dahlgrün studied law. He worked since 1936 for the Phönix Gummiwerke AG in Hamburg-Harburg...
(FDP) – Minister of Finance - Ewald Bucher (FDP) – Minister of Justice
- Kurt SchmückerKurt SchmückerKurt Schmücker was a German politician, member of Christian Democratic Union.Kurt Schmücker was born on November 10, 1919 in Löningen, Lower Saxony....
(CDU) – Minister of Economics - Theodor BlankTheodor BlankTheodor Anton Blank was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945....
(CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs - Werner Schwarz (CDU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
- Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(CDU) – Minister of Transport - Paul LückePaul LückePaul Lücke was a German politician and civil servant. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1965–1968....
(CDU) – Minister of Construction - Bruno HeckBruno HeckBruno Heck was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union .Heck was born into a poor Swabian catholic family. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen. From 1957 to 1976 Heck was a member of the German Bundestag.Heck was Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from...
(CDU) – Minister of Family and Youth - Elisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth Schwartzhaupt was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. She was Federal Minister of Health from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany....
(CDU) – Minister of Health - Hans Lenz (FDP) – Minister of Scientific Research
- Walter ScheelWalter ScheelWalter Scheel is a German politician . 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 , and finally as President of the Federal...
(FDP) – Minister of Economic Cooperation - Heinrich KroneHeinrich KroneHeinrich Krone was a German Christian-Democratic politician.Shortly after beginning his Theology study in 1914, Krone was drafted into service in World War I. After the war Krone continued his study, joining the Catholic Center Party in 1923...
(CDU) – Minister of Special Tasks - Richard StücklenRichard StücklenRichard Stücklen was German politician of the CSU. He had previously been a member of the NSDAP . From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of the Bundestag for more than 40 years, he was its President from 1979 to 1983.-Life:Stücklen was born in Heideck...
(CSU) – Minister of Posts and Communications - Ernst Lemmer (CDU) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
- Alois Niederalt (CSU) – Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
- Werner DollingerWerner DollingerDr. Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist. Born in Neustadt an der Aisch, he helped found the Christian Socialist Union Party in 1946. Dollinger was a member of the Bundestag , minister for the Treasury , minister of postal services and telecommunication and minister of transport...
(CSU) – Minister of Federal Treasure
Changes
- 16 June 1964 – Ludger Westrick (CDU) succeeds Krone as Minister of Special Tasks.
- 1 April 1965 – Karl WeberKarl Weber (German politician)Karl Weber was a West German politician with the Christian Democratic Union. He served as the Minister of Justice from 2 April 1965 until his replacement by Richard Jaeger in October of that same year.-References:...
(CDU) succeeds Bucher as Minister of Justice.
Erhard's Second Ministry (26 October 1965 – 1 December 1966)
- Ludwig Erhard (CDU) – Chancellor
- Erich MendeErich MendeDr. Erich Mende was a German politician of the FDP and CDU. He was the leader of FDP 1960 - 1968.-Early life:Mende was born in Gross-Strehlitz, Upper Silesia,...
(FDP) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of All-German Affairs - Gerhard SchröderGerhard Schröder (CDU)Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(CDU) – Minister of Foreign Affairs - Kai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von Hassel was a German politician from Schleswig-Holstein associated with the CDU party.Von Hassel was born in Gare, German East Africa ....
(CDU) – Minister of Defense - Paul LückePaul LückePaul Lücke was a German politician and civil servant. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1965–1968....
(CDU) – Minister of the Interior - Rolf DahlgrünRolf DahlgrünRolf Dahlgrün was a German politician for the FDP. From 1962 to 1966 he was Minister of Finance.-Life:Dahlgrün studied law. He worked since 1936 for the Phönix Gummiwerke AG in Hamburg-Harburg...
(FDP) – Minister of Finance - Richard JaegerRichard JaegerRichard Jaeger was a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. Under Ludwig Erhard's second ministry, he was Minister of Justice ....
(CSU) – Minister of Justice - Kurt SchmückerKurt SchmückerKurt Schmücker was a German politician, member of Christian Democratic Union.Kurt Schmücker was born on November 10, 1919 in Löningen, Lower Saxony....
(CDU) – Minister of Economics - Hans Katzer (CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
- Hermann HöcherlHermann HöcherlHermann Höcherl was a Nazi politician, volunteer Wehrmacht soldier and after the war German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ....
(CSU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry - Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(CDU) – Minister of Transport - Ewald Bucher (FDP) – Minister of Construction
- Bruno HeckBruno HeckBruno Heck was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union .Heck was born into a poor Swabian catholic family. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen. From 1957 to 1976 Heck was a member of the German Bundestag.Heck was Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from...
(CDU) – Minister of Family and Youth - Elisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth Schwartzhaupt was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. She was Federal Minister of Health from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany....
(CDU) – Minister of Health - Gerhard StoltenbergGerhard StoltenbergGerhard Stoltenberg was a German politician and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as minister-president of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein from 1971 to 1982 and as such as President of the Bundesrat in 1977/78.-Life:Stoltenberg was...
(CDU) – Minister of Scientific Research - Walter ScheelWalter ScheelWalter Scheel is a German politician . 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 , and finally as President of the Federal...
(FDP) – Minister of Economic Cooperation - Richard StücklenRichard StücklenRichard Stücklen was German politician of the CSU. He had previously been a member of the NSDAP . From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of the Bundestag for more than 40 years, he was its President from 1979 to 1983.-Life:Stücklen was born in Heideck...
(CSU) – Minister of Posts and Communications - Johann Baptist GradlJohann Baptist GradlJohann Baptist Gradl was a German politician and member of the German party Christian Democratic Union....
(CDU) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims - Alois Niederalt (CSU) – Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
- Werner DollingerWerner DollingerDr. Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist. Born in Neustadt an der Aisch, he helped found the Christian Socialist Union Party in 1946. Dollinger was a member of the Bundestag , minister for the Treasury , minister of postal services and telecommunication and minister of transport...
(CSU) – Minister of Federal Treasure
Changes
- 28 October 1966 - Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(CDU) succeeds Mende as Vice Chancellor, remaining also Minister of Transport. Johann Baptist GradlJohann Baptist GradlJohann Baptist Gradl was a German politician and member of the German party Christian Democratic Union....
(CDU) succeeds Mende as Minister of All-German Affairs. The other FDP ministers, Dahlgrün and Scheel, also resign. - 8 November 1966 - Kurt SchmückerKurt SchmückerKurt Schmücker was a German politician, member of Christian Democratic Union.Kurt Schmücker was born on November 10, 1919 in Löningen, Lower Saxony....
succeeds Dahlgrün as Minister of Finance. Werner DollingerWerner DollingerDr. Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist. Born in Neustadt an der Aisch, he helped found the Christian Socialist Union Party in 1946. Dollinger was a member of the Bundestag , minister for the Treasury , minister of postal services and telecommunication and minister of transport...
(CSU) succeeds Scheel as Minister of Economic Cooperation, remaining also Minister of Federal Treasure.
Primary sources
- Erhard, Ludwig. The Economics of Success (1963) online edition