He received his doctorate in 1960, while working as a research assistant at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.

Vogel immediately assumed the presidency of the Federal Council until 31 October 1977, at the same time becoming chairman of the supervisory board of the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), Germany's second largest public broadcaster.

Vogel's failure to be re-elected as state chair of his party in 1988 led to his resignation as Minister President in a famous speech which he ended with the often-quoted phrase: "May God protect Rhineland-Palatinate!

After the resignation of the first Thuringian Prime Minister Josef Duchač 1992, Vogel became Minister-President of Thuringia on 5 February.

In 2012, Vogel was awarded the Mercator Visiting Professorship for Political Management at the Universität Essen-Duisburg's NRW School of Governance.

[2] Vogel was nominated by his party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.

His brother was the SPD politician Hans-Jochen Vogel (1926–2020), a former mayor of Munich and Berlin, federal minister of justice and candidate for chancellorship.