Worner, Manfred

▪ 1995

      German defense official (b. Sept. 24, 1934, Stuttgart, Germany—d. Aug. 13, 1994, Brussels, Belgium), was the first German to serve (1988-94) as secretary-general of NATO, and he worked vigorously to redefine the organization after the Cold War precept upon which it was founded crumbled away with the collapse of the Soviet Union. He sought to turn NATO into a stabilizing force when ethnic rivalries in Eastern Europe threatened to unbalance the region. From 1953 to 1957 Wörner studied law at the Universities of Heidelberg, Paris, and Munich, and he received his Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 1961. He had joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1956 and, after serving as a civil servant for several years, was elected a member of the Bundestag in 1965, a seat he held until 1988. Wörner became increasingly knowledgeable about defense issues, and in 1976 he was named chairman of the Bundestag's committee on defense, serving in that post until 1980, when he was named deputy chairman of the party in the Bundestag. In 1982 the CDU gained power, and Wörner was named defense minister. He secured a reputation as an aggressive hawk, advocating a strong defense relationship with the U.S. He welcomed the deployment of U.S. Pershing and cruise missiles in Germany, despite much resistance, but also advocated the strengthening of NATO conventional forces, including increased participation by the German forces. These positions endeared him to the U.S. and the Reagan administration, which supported Wörner's election as secretary-general of NATO. Although he was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, Wörner worked through mid-1994 to negotiate peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he had early called for the use of NATO forces.

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