Born in 1944, Gerhard Schröder joined the German Social Democratic Party in 1963. In 1978 he became the federal chairman of the Young Socialists, the youth organisation of the SPD.. In 1980 Gerhard Schröder was elected to the German Bundestag, He became chairman of the SPD Hanover district. In 1985 Schröder met with East German leader Erich Honecker during a visit to East Berlin.

In 1986 Schröder was elected to the regional parliament of Lower Saxony and became leader of the SPD group. After the SPD won the regional elections in June 1990, he became Minister-President of Lower Saxony as head of a SPD-Greens coalition; in this position, he also won the 1994 and 1998 regional elections.

Following his election as Minister-President, Schröder became a member of the board of the federal SPD. In the SPD loss in the 1994 German federal elections he was the SPD's candidate for the foreign minister.

In 1998 he was chosen as the SPD's candidate chancellor for the 27 September 1998 elections. He won, and became Chancellor on 27 October as head of a SPD/Green coalition.

At the 22 September 2002 general elections, he secured another term, with a narrow nine-seat majority (down from 21). In 2005 he was succeeded as German Chancellor by Angela Merkel.