Bruno Kreisky (22 January 1911-29 July 1990) was Chancellor of Austria from 21 April 1970 to 24 May 1983, succeeding Josef Klaus and preceding Fred Sinowatz. He was Austria's most successful socialist leader, and he was also the longest-serving Chancellor in republican Austria.
Biography[]
Bruno Kreisky was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary in 1911 to a wealthy Jewish family, and he studied at Vienna and obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence. He was imprisoned from 1935 to 1937 and in 1938 for his political activities on behalf of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. After the Anschluss, he escaped to Sweden, where he became an official for the Austrian legation from 1946 to 1951, following World War II. After his return he worked in the President's Office from 1951 to 1953 and became Secretary of State in the Chancellery (1953-9), where he played an important part in negotiating the Austrian State Treaty which gave Austria full sovereignty. A strong advocate of neutrality, he was Foreign Secretary from 1959 to 1966. He became president of the SPO, and in 1970 formed a minority governnment, though from 1971 to 1983 he governed with an absolute majority. His understanding of neutrality did not preclude committed international involvement. For example, his Jewish origins notwithstanding, he was very critical of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians, and became the first Western leader to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1980. He was immensely popular at home thanks to his charisma and his ambitious social policies. He used the country's neutrality to entertain good and unproblematic relations with Austria's communist neighbors, and was deeply committed to the problems of the less developed countries in Africa and Asia. He died in Vienna in 1990 at the age of 79.