Schmidt, Helmut Heinrich Waldemar (1918- )

German socialist politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), chancellor of West Germany 1974-83. As chancellor, Schmidt introduced social reforms and continued Brandt's policy of Ostpolitik. With the French president Giscard d'Estaing, he instigated annual world and European economic summits. He was a firm supporter of NATO and of the deployment of US nuclear missiles in West Germany during the early 1980s.

Schmidt was elected to the Bundestag (federal parliament) in 1953. He was interior minister for Hamburg 1961-65, defence minister 1969-72, and finance minister 1972-74. He became federal chancellor (prime minister) on Willy Brandt's resignation in 1974. Re-elected in 1980, he was defeated in the Bundestag in 1982 following the switch of allegiance by the SPD's coalition allies, the Free Democratic Party. Schmidt retired from federal politics at the general election of 1983, having encountered growing opposition from the SPD's left wing, who opposed his stance on military and economic issues.