Franz Josef Strauss

Minister-President of Bavaria (1978-1988) · Chairman of the CSU (1961-1988) · Federal Minister of Defence (1956-1962) · Federal Minister of Finance (1966-1969)

Bavarian Christian Social leader who dominated the CSU for nearly three decades, built up the Bundeswehr as defence minister and was the right's most polarizing figure in postwar West Germany.

Position
Solid, past the ring: second pole
Short, inside the ring: first pole
Balanced

★ Franz Josef Strauss on 12 axes

Share of each pole

Economy

Equality / Markets

OwnershipModerate: Private
28%72%
PublicPrivate
MarketsMild: Free
35%65%
PlannedFree
WelfareMild: Self-reliant
40%60%
SharedSelf-reliant

State and liberty

Liberty / Authority

AuthorityMild: Strong leader
43%57%
DemocraticStrong leader
SecurityStrong: Order
18%82%
LibertyOrder
StructureModerate: Local
68%32%
LocalCentral

Society

Progress / Tradition

MoralityModerate: Traditional
20%80%
ProgressiveTraditional
ReligionModerate: Religious
23%77%
SecularReligious
TechnologyModerate: Embrace
70%30%
EmbraceCaution
CultureModerate: National identity
23%77%
MulticulturalNational identity

World

Global / Nation

TradeMild: Global
60%40%
GlobalProtected
Foreign policyModerate: Strength
28%72%
CooperationStrength

How we placed it

Judgment calls

Positions summarize typical stances from primary sources and reference works. Where an axis is genuinely contested, the reasoning is below.

Markets: A fierce critic of socialism who also practised active industrial policy, chairing Deutsche Airbus and courting large firms for Bavaria; scored moderately toward free markets.
Authority: Worked within parliamentary democracy but was forced out as defence minister after the 1962 Spiegel affair, in which journalists were arrested.
Structure: Defended Bavarian autonomy and the CSU's independence from the CDU.
Technology: Was West Germany's first minister for nuclear affairs and a promoter of the aerospace industry.
Foreign policy: A hardline anti-communist who opposed Ostpolitik and later disarmament steps, yet arranged a large loan to East Germany in 1983.

Who was Franz Josef Strauss?

Franz Josef Strauss, the son of a Munich butcher, served as a Wehrmacht officer in the Second World War and helped found the CSU in 1945. He sat in the Bundestag from 1949 and served under Konrad Adenauer as minister for nuclear affairs and then defence. The Spiegel affair ended his time as defence minister in 1962. He led the CSU from 1961, was finance minister in Kurt Georg Kiesinger's Grand Coalition and governed Bavaria from 1978 until his death. In 1980 he was the CDU/CSU's candidate for chancellor but lost to Helmut Schmidt.

Political views

As defence minister from 1956 drove the build-up of the Bundeswehr.
Source: hdg.de
Cut taxes as finance minister in 1966-1969 and worked with SPD economics minister Karl Schiller on a counter-cyclical policy that overcame the recession.
Source: hdg.de
Was among the most determined opponents of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik.
Source: hdg.de
Campaigned in 1976 under the slogan "Freedom or Socialism".
Source: hdg.de
Arranged a billion-mark loan to East Germany in 1983 and met Erich Honecker.
Source: hdg.de
Opposed the disarmament policy begun under Helmut Kohl in 1987.
Source: hdg.de
Was a key figure in the creation of Airbus and chaired the supervisory board of Deutsche Airbus.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Admirers credit Strauss with building up the Bundeswehr, turning the CSU into a mass party and transforming Bavaria from an agricultural state into a centre of high-technology industry, and tens of thousands attended his funeral. Critics saw him as a threat to democratic norms. In the 1962 Spiegel affair he admitted his involvement in the raid on the magazine's offices and the arrest of its publisher Rudolf Augstein and editor Conrad Ahlers, and five FDP ministers quit in protest before he left the cabinet. He also faced inquiries over the Fibag affair and accepted an honour from apartheid South Africa in 1984. Willy Brandt described him as a powerful engine with a weak brake.

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FAQ

Franz Josef Strauss: questions

What political party was Franz Josef Strauss?

Strauss was a co-founder of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, and chaired it from 1961 to 1988.

What was the Spiegel affair?

In 1962 police raided Der Spiegel and arrested its publisher and an editor over a defence article; Strauss's role in the action led to a government crisis and his departure as defence minister.

Did Franz Josef Strauss run for chancellor?

Yes. He was the CDU/CSU candidate in 1980, when the Union won 44.5 percent and Helmut Schmidt's coalition stayed in power.

Sources

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