In 1969 Willy Brandt took over from Kurt Georg Kiesinger as Chancellor of Germany and Leo Bauer became a personal advisor to the chancellor, employed in the Federal Chancellery. He advised, principally, on East-West German relations ("Ostpolitik") at a time when the governments on both sides of the internal border were keen to regularise various pieces of unfinished business which had persisted since 1949. Yet despite his position at the heart of the West German political establishment, Bauer remained an outsider. Rumour persisted that Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski regarded Bauer's constant closeness to the chancellor as a threat to his own position of trust as the party's "chief executive" ("Parteigeschäftsführer"). As far as the party's deputy leader was concerned, Bauer himself stated that Helmut Schmidt was "likely to be one of those who believed his own role was diminished because [Bauer] was so firmly ensconced as Brandt's advisor".