Franz Josef Röder, who served as the Minister-President of Saarland for an impressively long period of twenty years, was perhaps the most influential figure in the history of Saar after the years of autonomy. Röder entered politics relatively late, in 1955, due to the special circumstances. Prior to that, he had been the head of a Saarland high school. However, the 'latecomer' Röder soon gained influence and respect, first as a minister and then in 1959 as the head of the state government. Röder was a committed Christian Democrat, a patriot of Saarland and Germany, and a passionate federalist. However, he was not a nationalist. This made him uniquely capable, more than almost any other politician, of overcoming the deep divides and wounds inflicted on the people of his homeland by the referendum battle of 1955. Subsequently, Röder truly became a builder of a federal Saarland.