Grand Marshal and Guest of Honor
Every year, the German-American Steuben Parade is led by one or more Grand Marshals, who are either American citizens with a German background or German citizens with a distinct relationship to America.
The Grand Marshals in 2009 were Congressman Michael McMahon, Fox 5 TV reporter Linda Schmidt, A&P Chairman Christian Haub, and Parade Co-founder Ted Dengler. In previous years, Grand Marshals included Hollywood star Ralf Möller, NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer and Col. Gail Halvorsen, the "Candy-Bomber" from the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift.
In 2007, celebrating the 50th Anniversary German-American Steuben Parade, the Grand Marshal was former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who was born in the Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany. The Guest of Honor was Dr. Klaus Scharioth, the German Ambassador to the United States. Also invited was former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who is known to have a deep personal friendship towards America.
Over the years the Steuben Parade has been led by many distinguished Germans and Americans. Former Grand Marshals were Donald Trump, Siegfried & Roy, George Steinbrenner, Carol Alt, Eric Braeden, John Roland, Louis Freeh, as well as many politicians without a personal German background but a great appreciation of the German culture. Among those were Michael Bloomberg, Rudolph Giuliani and George Pataki.
Among the Guests of Honor have been three German presidents: Walter Scheel, Richard von Weizsäcker and Johannes Rau, as well as other dignitaries from the political and economic fields, including state prime ministers Erwin Teufel, Kurt Biedenkopf and Bernhard Vogel.
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