A Conversation on "Helmut Schmidt – The Global Chancellor"
19 May 2016
Conversation on former chancellor Helmut Schmidt
On 12 May 2016, Ambassador Dr Peter Ammon hosted a conversation on the legacy of former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who died last year aged 96. At the heart of the discussion was Schmidt’s foreign policy during his chancellorship from 1974 to 1982.
The panelists Dr Kristina Spohr, associate professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Quentin Peel, Financial Times commentator and former foreign editor, discussed Dr Spohr’s recently published book The Global Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order and answered questions from the audience.
The discussion focused on why Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has become so popular in Germany, decades after leaving office.
In a lively debate, Dr Spohr argued that Helmut Schmidt played a crucial part in holding together the Western alliance and that his foreign policy decisions paved the way to defusing the Cold War in Europe.
Schmidt was not merely a “doer” of great competence and a transitional figure, but a statesman-intellectual, versatile on the world stage in both economics and security policy, who left enduring legacies.
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