biography
| name: |
Schmidt, Helmut (Heinrich Waldemar)
|
pronunciation:
[shmit]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1918– )
|
| biography:
| West German statesman and chancellor (1974–82), born in Hamburg, N Germany. After service in World War 2, he studied at Hamburg, joined the Social Democratic Party in 1946, and became a member of the Bundestag in 1953. He was minister of defence (1969–72), and of finance (1972–4), in which role he created a firm basis for Germany's continued economic growth. He succeeded Brandt as chancellor, describing his aim as the ‘political unification of Europe in partnership with the United States’. |
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