Basic Information
Name: Ludwig Erhard
Nicknames: the father of the Deutschmark, Mr. Prosperity, Rubber Lion
Born: February 4, 1897
Died: May 5, 1977
Nationality: German
Hometown: Furth, Kingdom of Bavaria (now Germany)
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: Commercial apprentice, retail salesman, WWI soldier, German statesman: Chancellor of West Germany, 1963-66
Education: PhD in Economics from the University of Frankfurt, 1925; before that, only a basic education and some commercial apprenticeship stuff
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Wilhelm Erhard & Augusta Hassold
Siblings: Two brothers and one sister (Rose)
Spouse: Luise Lotter (died in 1975)
Children: One of 'em
Friends: Horst Wunche (more of an adviser than a friend, really…), Wilhelm Rieger, capitalism
Foes: Nazism
Analysis
In 1944, in the middle of WWII, Erhard wrote a little memo called "War Finances and Debt Consolidation." It sounds super-boring, but this little memo made the then-bold claim of assuming that Germany would lose the war.
From that moment on, the Allies saw Erhard as a friend to the democratic cause, and the East…well, they didn't like him very much.
As West Germany's Minister of Economics, he's largely credited with Wirtschaftswunder, the Great Economic Miracle.
Reagan gives Erhard's economically liberal views a nice verbal high-five in his speech. And who doesn't love getting a verbal high-five from the leader of the free world?