Richard Stücklen
Stücklen in 1972
President of the Bundestag West Germany
In office 31 May 1979 – 29 March 1983
Preceded by	Karl Carstens
Succeeded by	Rainer Barzel
Federal Minister of Post and Telecommunications
In office 29 October 1957 – 30 November 1966
Preceded by	Ernst Lemmer
Succeeded by	Werner Dollinger
Member of theBundestag
In office 1 February 1952 – 18 August 1970
Personal details
Born	(1916-08-20)20 August 1916 Heideck, Germany
Died	2 May 2002(2002-05-02) (aged 85) Weißenburg in Bayern, Germany
Political party	CSU

Richard Stücklen (20 August 1916 – 2 May 2002) was a German politician of theChristian Social Union (CSU). He had previously been a member of the NSDAP (1939–1945). From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of theGerman parliament for more than 40 years, he served as the seventhpresident of the Bundestag from 1979 to 1983.

Stücklen was born inHeideck. After an apprenticeship, he worked as an electrician while studying engineering in a correspondence course. He was drafted into theReichsarbeitsdienst in 1936 and later into theWehrmacht, where he served as a soldier inWorld War II from 1940 to 1943, when he was released as unfit for service due to a knee injury. He then worked in the electrical industry and was able to finish his training as anelectrical engineer inMittweida, after which he became a departmental manager atAEG. After 1945, he worked in his parents' locksmithery at Heideck. He co-founded theBMS Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG engineering company in 1952 and was a company associate until 1989.

Stücklen joined theNazi Party in 1939.^[1] After the end of World War II in 1945, Stücklen was one of the founders of the CSU in Heideck and inHilpoltstein. He was elected to theBundestag in 1949 as representative of the electoral district of Weißenburg.^[2] He was the youngest member of the first Bundestag^[3] and stayed a directly elected member of the Bundestag (first representing Weißenburg, laterRoth) for eleven legislative periods until the end of 1990, longer than any other member before or after him.^[3]

Stücklen was part of a group of parliamentarians who unsuccessfully proposed changing the German voting system toplurality voting in 1955.

After the 1957 Federal elections, Stücklen became Federal Minister for Post and Communication inKonrad Adenauer's cabinet on 29 October 1957.^[4] He was the youngest German Federal minister at that time. He kept his post in the cabinets ofLudwig Erhard. On 1 December 1966, Stücklen left office and was replaced byWerner Dollinger inKurt Georg Kiesinger'sgrand coalition cabinet. Between 1967 and 1976, he was chairman of the CSU parliamentary group and deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU group.^[2]

After the 1976 Federal elections, where he ran as a potential minister in a possibleHelmut Kohl cabinet, he was elected vice president of the Bundestag on 14 December 1976. Shortly after theBundesversammlung had electedKarl Carstens asPresident of Germany, Stücklen became his successor as president of the Bundestag.^[5] After the 1983 elections,Rainer Barzel became president of the parliament, and Stücklen returned to his vice presidential post which he held until he quit parliament on 20 December 1990.^[6][5]

One of the most famous Bundestag sessions presided over by Stücklen was that of 18 October 1984, when Stücklen excludedGreen Party member Jürgen Reents from the session for calling Helmut Kohl "bought byFlick".Christa Nickels then requested an interruption. Stücklen turned her microphone off, which promptedJoschka Fischer to address him, "With respect, Mr. President, you are an asshole", for which he in turn was excluded by Stücklen. Fischer apologized to Stücklen two days later.^[7]

Stücklen was married and had two children.^[4] He died in 2002 inWeißenburg in Bayern from aheart disease.

• (in German) Stücklen, Richard:Mit Humor und Augenmaß.ISBN 3-00-008155-0 (autobiography)

• Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.),Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt – Funktion – Person. 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007,ISBN 978-3-7892-8201-0

• Richard Stücklen in theGerman National Library catalogue

• 1916 births
• 2002 deaths
• People from Roth (district)
• Christian Social Union in Bavaria politicians
• Federal government ministers of Germany
• Presidents of the Bundestag
• Nazi Party members
• Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria
• Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990
• Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987
• Members of the Bundestag 1980–1983
• Members of the Bundestag 1976–1980
• Members of the Bundestag 1972–1976
• Members of the Bundestag 1969–1972
• Members of the Bundestag 1965–1969
• Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965
• Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961
• Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957
• Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953
• Reich Labour Service members
• German military personnel of World War II
• Vice presidents of the Bundestag

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• Use dmy dates from March 2021