Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder

Gerhard Schröder was brought up in a poor family and was trained as salesman. In 1963 Schröder joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and took up law at Göttingen University. He was an active member of the Young Socialists (Juso), a youth organization affiliated to SPD. He chaired the Juso committee in Göttingen in 1969-1970, and led the national organization of Juso in 1978-1980. He was made a member of the SPD Executive for the District of Hanover in 1977 and member of the SPD national council in 1979. From 1978 Schröder worked as a self-employed lawyer in Hanover. His growth as a SPD executive continued as he was named chairman of the SPD Executive for the District of Hanover (1983-1993), a member of the SPD federal board (from 1986), and a member of the SPD presidium (from 1989). Between 1980 and 1986 Schröder was SPD deputy for the Bundestag. In 1986 he was elected to the Landtag of Lower Saxony, where he led the SPD caucus. Four years later he was elected minister-president of Lower Saxony (21 Jun 1990 - 28 Oct 1998). Along with his reelection in 1994, Schröder took the office of SPD chairman for Lower Saxony (1994 - 29 Sep 1998). In 1997-1998, Schröder served a one-year term as president of the Bundesrat. On 17 Apr 1998 Schröder was nominated as candidate for the office of Federal Chancellor at the SPD National Party Conference in Leipzig. The Social Democrats won a decisive victory in federal elections on 27 Sep 1998 to the 14th Bundestag. The party obtained 40.9 percent of the national vote and received the largest number of seats in the Bundestag (298). On 27 Oct 1998 Schröder was elected Federal Chancellor and formed a coalition government with the Greens. On 12 Apr 1999 he succeeded Oskar Lafontaine as federal chairman of the SPD.