Ludwig Erhard

Ludwig Erhard
Erhard in 1964
Chancellor of West Germany[a]
In office 17 October 1963 – 30 November 1966
President	Heinrich Lübke
Vice-Chancellor	Erich Mende
Preceded by	Konrad Adenauer
Succeeded by	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office 23 March 1966 – 23 May 1967
Bundestag Leader-	Rainer Barzel
Preceded by	Konrad Adenauer
Succeeded by	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Vice-Chancellor of West Germany
In office 29 October 1957 – 15 October 1963
Chancellor	Konrad Adenauer
Preceded by	Franz Blücher
Succeeded by	Erich Mende
Minister for Economics
In office 20 September 1949 – 15 October 1963
Chancellor	Konrad Adenauer
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Kurt Schmücker
Bundestag constituencies Member of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg In office 13 December 1972 – 5 May 1977 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Paula Riede Constituency CDU List Member of the Bundestag for Ulm In office 7 September 1949 – 13 December 1972 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Herbert Werner
Personal details
Born	Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (1897-02-04)4 February 1897 Fürth, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	5 May 1977(1977-05-05) (aged 80) Bonn, West Germany
Resting place	Gmund am Tegernsee
Political party	Christian Democratic Union[b]
Spouse	Luise Schuster ​ ​ (m. 1923; died 1975)​
Children	1
Alma mater	Goethe University Frankfurt (PhD)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire
Branch/service	Imperial German Army Bavarian Army
Years of service	1916–1919
Rank	Unteroffizier
Unit	22nd Royal Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I Eastern Front Romanian Campaign Western Front Fifth Battle of Ypres

Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (German: [ˈluːtvɪç ˈʔeːɐ̯haʁt]; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician and economist affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is known for leading the West German postwar economic reforms and economic recovery (Wirtschaftswunder, German for "economic miracle") in his role as Minister of Economic Affairs under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. During that period he promoted the concept of the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft), on which Germany's economic policy in the 21st century continues to be based.^[1]

In his tenure as Chancellor, however, Erhard lacked support from Adenauer, who remained chairman of the CDU party until 1966. Erhard failed to win the German public's confidence in his handling of a budget deficit and lacked public support for his direction of foreign policy. His popularity waned, and he resigned his chancellorship on 30 November 1966.

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