Second Müller cabinet

The second Müller cabinet, headed by Hermann Müller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was the sixteenth democratically elected government during the Weimar Republic. It took office on 28 June 1928 when it replaced the fourth Marx cabinet, which had resigned on 12 June after failing to pass a promised school law.

The cabinet was a grand coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party, German Democratic Party (DDP), Centre Party, German People's Party (DVP) and Bavarian People's Party (BVP). Lasting just under one year and 9 months, it was in office longer than any other government of the politically unstable Weimar Republic. The broad range of views it brought together made it difficult to resolve the issues it faced and weakened support for the parliamentary system as a whole. In a vote on military spending for a new armored cruiser, for example, the SPD leadership felt it necessary to go against its own party's overwhelming opposition in order to preserve the coalition. On economic issues, impasses developed between the coalition parties on the left and the right. It was able to achieve some successes in foreign policy but eventually broke apart over the increased costs of unemployment insurance that came about with the onset of the Great Depression. Müller's second cabinet resigned on 27 March 1930 and was replaced on 30 March by the first cabinet of Heinrich Brüning.

The second Müller cabinet was the last government of the Weimar Republic to be based on parliamentary majorities. The presidential cabinets that followed ruled without the Reichstag using the emergency decree powers that the constitution granted to the German president.