Karl Carstens (December 14, 1914 - May 30, 1992) was a German politician. He served as the fifth Federal President of West Germany.

Carstens studied law and political science at the universities of Frankfurt, Dijon, Munich, Königsberg, and Hamburg from 1933 to 1936. In 1949 he received a Master of Laws degree from Yale University.

• May 23, 1979: Carstens is elected as the fifth President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• July 1, 1983: After a Konstruktives Mißtrauensvotum (constructive vote of no-confidence , a vote of the parliament to replace the old chancellor with a new one), Carstens decides to disband the Lower House of German Parliament and arrange new general elections.
• May 23, 1984: Richard von Weizsäcker becomes the elected successor of Karl Carstens.

Carstens famously denounced the author Heinrich Böll as a supporter of left-wing terrorism (specifically, the Baader-Meinhof Gang).