Brüning, Heinrich (hīn`rĭkh brün`ĭng), 1885–1970, German chancellor. Elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he was a leader of the Catholic Center party and a fiscal expert. In 1930 he was appointed chancellor of the Reich to put German finances in order. The Reichstag, which failed to support him, was dissolved (1930), and new elections were ordered. The new Reichstag was equally unable to produce a working majority, but Brüning continued to govern by decree. His drastic deflationary measures were very unpopular. In foreign policy he attempted to gain equality for Germany among the great powers and to persuade the former Allied powers to rescind German arms limitation. Brüning was forced to resign in 1932 by President Hindenburg, who appointed Franz von Papen as the new chancellor. Brüning left Germany in 1934 and from 1937 to 1952 was a member of the faculty at Harvard. In 1951 he resumed residence in Germany and became a professor of political science at the Univ. of Cologne. From 1955 until his death he was professor emeritus there.

Brüning, Heinrich

(born Nov. 26, 1885, Münster, Ger.—died March 30, 1970, Norwich, Vt., U.S.) German politician. Elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he became noted as a financial expert. Leader of the Catholic Centre Party from 1929, he became chancellor of Germany in 1930. In response to the Great Depression, he instituted harsh austerity measures that paralyzed the German economy. He ignored the Reichstag and governed by presidential decree, which hastened the drift toward rightist dictatorship and Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Forced to resign in 1932, he left Germany in 1934 and eventually moved to the U.S., where he taught at Harvard University (1937–52).