[1] Nevertheless, by 1892 under Professor Wilhelm Wundt, Eckener had earned a doctorate "magna cum laude"[1] in what today might be deemed experimental psychology[2] at Leipzig University.

[1] Eckener's early career was as a journalist and editor; by August 1893 he was working for the Flensburger Nachrichten;[1] in October 1897 he married Johanna, daughter of the publisher family Maaß.

[3][5] However, when Eckener attempted his first flight on 16 May 1911 in the LZ 8, christened Deutschland II, he decided to launch it in a strong wind, which pushed the craft into the hangar wall, damaging it seriously.

The Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germans to construct airships of the size needed[5] to operate the profitable trans-Atlantic service that was Eckener's goal.

However, after much skillful lobbying, he persuaded the U.S. and German governments to allow the company to build LZ 126, later rechristened the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), for the United States Navy as part of Germany's war reparations.

Refused funds by the penniless Weimar government, Eckener and his colleagues began a nationwide fund-raising lecture tour in order to commence construction of Graf Zeppelin, which became the most successful rigid airship ever built.

In the 1932 presidential election Eckener was a potential unity candidate against Adolf Hitler, encouraged to campaign by leaders of both the SPD and the Zentrum, but he bowed out when Paul von Hindenburg decided to run for a second term.

[8] In supposed anger and fear of Eckener, Hitler's de facto deputy, Hermann Esser, once called him the "director of the flying Weisswurst",[4] a greyish-white Bavarian sausage.

For example, the maiden voyage of the Hindenburg nearly resulted in disaster when Captain Ernst A. Lehmann brought the ship out in strong winds in order to undertake a Nazi propaganda flight.

With Eckener's management, the Zeppelin company had a perfect safety record with no passenger ever sustaining a serious injury on any of the more than 1 million air miles that the rigid airships flew, until the Hindenburg disaster of 1937.

However, under the command of Captain Albert Sammt, who had previously survived the fiery destruction of the Hindenburg, albeit with severe burns, the ship performed an espionage mission off the coast of Great Britain, intended to investigate the radar defences.

Eckener remained active in local politics campaigning for a German majority in Flensburg, while at the same time, during a "thundering" one-hour speech in 1951, warning against small-mindedness in border concerns.

[1] Eckener was responsible for many innovative aviation developments, notably the trans-Atlantic passenger services offered by the airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg.

Additionally, the town of Friedrichshafen, scene of his many triumphant homecomings in Graf Zeppelin, has recognised his memory by naming a large new conference centre after him.