Eighth President of Germany, from July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2004. He attended two local college preparatory high schools, but his father removed him for lack of attendance and apprenticed him to learn the publishing business. He was a member of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church as a youth, and his faith was an important part of his political views, so much so that he earned the nickname "Brother John". He worked in publishing in various roles and be came involved in politics. He joined Gustav Heinemann's All German People's Party (GVP) in the early 1950s (and married his mentor's granddaughter in 1982) and followed his mentor to the Social Democrat Party (SPD) in 1957 when the GVP was dissolved. He led the SPD's Young Socialists group in Wuppertal from 1958 to 1962, and was first elected to the Nordrhein-Westfalen State Parliment in 1958 and remained a member of this body until 1999. He also served in the city council of Wuppertal from 1964 to 1978 and was Mayor of Wuppertal from 1969 to 1970. He joined the leadership team of the state SPD in 1962 and was elected leader of the state party in 1967. He also became part of the presidium of the national SPD in 1978 and was selected deputy chairman in 1982. He was chosen as Minister of Science in the state cabinet in 1970 and was responsible, in part, for founding five new universities in Nordrhein-Westfalen during his tenure. He was chosen as Prime Minister of the state government in 1978, in which post he served until his resignation to run for German President in 1998. As such, he also served in the German Bundesrat (or upper house) and was president of that body in 1982-1983 and again in 1994-1995. He was a chancellor candidate for the SPD in 1987 against Helmut Kohl but was unsuccessful. He was first nominated for the position of German President in 1994, but lost to Roman Herzog. However, in 1999 he was elected to the post and served one term. He was the first German politician to speak at the Israeli Knesset in 2000 in an official capacity, officially apologizing for the Holocaust. From 1965 to 1999 he also sat on the Synod of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in the Rhineland and was a member of the presidium of the national church from 1966 to 1974.