Helmut Schmidt—chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982 and staunch U.S. ally—is dead.
As chancellor, Schmidt saw his country through the fight against the terrorist Red Army Faction (of Baader-Meinhof fame), with its bombings and high-profile kidnappings and murders of German politicians and business leaders. American service members were also among the targeted and murdered.
A statesman of character and moral clarity, Schmidt should perhaps be best remembered for his unwavering dedication to defending the West from Soviet aggression.
In the early 1980s, he refused to back down on his call for stationing U.S. Pershing II nuclear missiles on West German soil—despite massive and hysterical public protests organized by the German “peace movement” (with feckless West Germans screaming in the streets for the “war chancellor” to “get out”) and strong resistance from within his own party, the Social Democrats (SPD).
Chancellor Schmidt had proposed that the U.S. station the Pershing IIs in West Germany as a deterrent to the Soviet SS-20 missiles positioned in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Pershing I missiles had been stationed in West Germany since 1963. Pershing II’s key difference: It could reach the Soviet Union. The anti-missile demonstrators—often relying on talking points supplied by Moscow—claimed that the new missiles created an unfair imbalance, despite the fact that 360 SS-20 missiles, each with three warheads, were aimed directly at Western Europe.
Before becoming chancellor, Schmidt was finance minister under Chancellor Willy Brandt and is to this day described as a “brilliant manager” of West Germany’s postwar economic miracle.
He was married for 68 years to his best friend, Loki—they met as schoolchildren, and she passed away in 2010.
When it comes to the fact that Schmidt was a key architect of the European Monetary System and the euro currency, well…one may point out that no one is perfect.
Unlike today, there was once a true German-American friendship. It was never stronger than when Schmidt was chancellor.
Helmut Schmidt died today at his home in Hamburg at the age of 96.
May he rest in peace.
Karina Rollins is a research editor at The Heritage Foundation.