Franz Josef Strauss

Strauss led Bavaria's Christian Social Union for nearly three decades and stands for its more conservative, nationalist wing. His rule that there must be "no democratically legitimate party to the right of the CSU" defined a strategy: absorb right-wing voters rather than let a rival form. He was forced out as defence minister over the 1962 Spiegel affair, lost the 1980 chancellorship race to Helmut Schmidt, and as Bavarian premier modernised the state's economy.