Karl Walter Carstens

Karl Carstens studied law and political science at the universities of Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Königsberg, and Hamburg. He joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and served in an army antiaircraft unit in World War II. After the war he was cleared by an Allied denazification court and continued his studies in Dijon, France, and at Yale University, U.S. In 1949-1954, Carstens served as legal advisor for the Bremen Senate and represented Bremen in the central government. In 1954 he was chosen to represent West Germany in the Council of Europe and joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1955. Carstens served as state secretary of foreign affairs (1960-1966), deputy defense minister (1967-1968), and head of the chancellor's office (1968-1969). In 1972 he was elected to the Bundestag, where he became CDU party leader (1973-1976) and then president of the Bundestag (14 Dec 1976 - 31 May 1979). Despite strong opposition of the Social Democrats against the candidature of Carstens at the presidential elections in 1979, he obtained the required majority in the first vote. As Federal President, Carstens sought for extending his popularity through the contacts with community and especially youth at public meetings and rallies. He undertook a lot of trips abroad including visits to such exotic countries as Jamaica and Indonesia. Addressing an audience in the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Carstens disapproved the idea of unilateral disarmament. In 1982, he met with the Pope John Paul II and attended the funeral of the Soviet political and party leader Leonid Brezhnev. Carstens retired from public office in 1984 at the end of his term. Biography source: [2]