Chancellor thumb|Ludwig Erhard in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1964 thumb|Charles de Gaulle and Ludwig Erhard, 1965 thumb|Johnson and Erhard, December 1963 thumb|Ludwig Erhard and Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, 1967 After the resignation of Adenauer in 1963, Erhard was elected chancellor with 279 against 180 votes in the Bundestag on 16 October. In 1965, he was re-elected. From 1966 to 1967, he also headed the Christian Democratic Union as de facto chairman, despite the fact that he was never a member of that party (which made his election to the chairmanship irregular and void de jure), as he never formally filed a membership application despite pressure from Chancellor Adenauer. The reasons for Erhard's reluctance are unknown, but it is probable that they stemmed from Erhard's general scepticism about party politics. However, Erhard was regarded and treated as a long-time CDU member and as the party chairman by almost everyone in Germany at the time, including the vast majority of the CDU itself. The fact that he was not a member was known only to a very small circle of party leaders, and it did not become known to the public until 2007, when the silence was finally broken by Erhard's close advisor Horst Wünsche.
Chancellor thumb|Ludwig Erhard in Ottawa Ontario, Canada, 1964 thumb|Charles de Gaulle and Ludwig Erhard, 1965 thumb|Johnson and Erhard, December 1963 thumb|Ludwig Erhard and Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, 1967 After the resignation of Adenauer in 1963, Erhard was elected chancellor with 279 against 180 votes in the Bundestag on 16 October. In 1965, he was re-elected. From 1966 to 1967, he also headed the Christian Democratic Union as de facto chairman, despite the fact that he was never a member of that party (which made his election to the chairmanship irregular and void de jure), as he never formally filed a membership application despite pressure from Chancellor Adenauer. The reasons for Erhard's reluctance are unknown, but it is probable that they stemmed from Erhard's general scepticism about party politics. However, Erhard was regarded and treated as a long-time CDU member and as the party chairman by almost everyone in Germany at the time, including the vast majority of the CDU itself. The fact that he was not a member was known only to a very small circle of party leaders, and it did not become known to the public unt,il 2007, when the silence was finally broken by Erhard's close advisor Horst Wünsche.