Rice University Office of Media Relations
April 28, 1999
CONTACT: Michael Cinelli (713) 831-4794 99-133
FORMER CHANCELLOR SCHMIDT TO SPEAK AT RICE COMMENCEMENT
HOUSTON, April 28, 1999 -- Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt--a leading advocate of the European Monetary Unit (EMU) and an influential voice in European politics and economics--will deliver the commencement speech at Rice University on Saturday, May 15.
Commencement ceremonies will start at 8:30 a.m. in the Academic Quadrangle. In case of inclement weather graduation ceremonies will be held in Autry Court.
The Class of 1999 will be the 86th graduating class in Rice's history.
In addition to the awarding of degrees, commencement weekend festivities will include the Class of '99 Convocation, the Shepherd School of Music Presidential Concert, and a presidential reception for students, guests, faculty, staff and administration. All of these events are to be held in Alice Pratt Brown Hall on Friday, May 14, followed by a fireworks show in the stadium parking lot starting at 10:15 p.m.
The Student Art Exhibition in the Rice University Art Gallery in Sewall Hall will be on display 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, May 14, and from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 15.
Schmidt was born in 1918 in Hamburg, Germany. During World War II, he served in the German army, first in an armored division on the Eastern Front and later in the Ardennes offensive, earning an Iron Cross. After the war, he joined the Social Democratic Party, studied economics at the University of Hamburg and then served in the economic and transport sector of the Hamburg municipal government from 1949 to 1953.
Schmidt was first elected to the Bundestag, the German legislative body, in 1953. He became the vice chairman of the Social Democratic Party in 1968 and served in the government of Chancellor Willy Brandt as minister of defense from 1969 to 1972 and minister of finance from 1972 to 1974.
He was elected chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1974, a position he held until 1982. After stepping down from that office, he remained active in politics as a member of the Bundestag until 1987.
Before and during his term as chancellor, Schmidt was an ardent proponent of 'ostpolitik' and played a central role in turning NATO's attention toward the potential economic and political benefits of greater dialogue with Eastern Europe and Russia.
He and former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing were the two strongest advocates of the European Monetary Union, an idea that emerged from a conference in Bremen, Germany, in 1979. The new common European medium of exchange, the euro, was adopted by 11 nations on Jan. 1, 1999.
Although he no longer holds elective office, Schmidt maintains an active role in German affairs as the publisher of the influential weekly newspaper Die Zeit.
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