Helmut Schmidt, Former West German Chancellor, Dies at 96
- Chain-smoking former leader helped start G-7 meetings
- Faced terrorism, missile protests during tenure ending 1982
Helmut Schmidt. Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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Helmut Schmidt, the former West German chancellor who steered his country through the world economic crisis of the 1970s and took an uncompromising line against domestic terrorism, has died. He was 96.
He died Tuesday at home in his native city of Hamburg, according to the German weekly Die Zeit, where he was co-publisher. No cause was given.