Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (October 2, 1847 - August 2, 1934) was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politicia. He first came to national attention during WWI, at the age of 66, as the victor at Tannenberg in 1914. In 1925 he was elected as the second President of Germany. In 1932, 84 years old and in poor health, he was considered the only candidate who could defeat Adolf Hitler. He was re-elected in a runoff.Although he was opposing Hitler, the deteriorating political stability of the Weimar Republic led him to dissolve the parliament twice and with increasing pressure from the rising Nazi party he was forced to appoint Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933. In February, he issued the Reichstag Fire Decree which suspended various civil liberties, and in March he signed the Enabling Act, in which the parliament gave Hitler's administration legislative powers. He remained in office until his death in 1934, at the age of 86. from lung cancer. Von Hindenburg at desk, Bain News Service, circa 1914-15.