A special hurrah in memory of Helmut Schmidt, one of the most remarkable chancellors in postwar German history and, in the end, one of the United States’ benefactors [“West German chancellor was a transformative leader,” obituaries, Nov. 11]. Witty and intelligent, he truly was, as German politician Peer Steinbrück described him, a practitioner of pragmatism rooted in moral conviction. Never one to suffer fools gladly, he had a rapier tongue but was always open to compromise and a well-argued case, especially in a Franco-German context.
As co-publisher of Die Zeit, he was unfailingly generous to writers and researchers seeking their way, and to thinking politicians, European and American. We will miss him as we seek to reopen the Atlantic agenda so carelessly thrown away by former president George W. Bush.
