Career
Eckhardt was until 1943 a high-ranking official (Ministerialrat) in the Reichs Ministry of Finance. In 1943 he joined the German army and was captured in early 1945 by the British. He remained in captivity until 1948.
Following his repatriation he settled in Munich where he worked as a lawyer and became politically active.
He was elected to the Parliament of Bavaria in 1950, serving until 1954. He was elected to the Bundestag, serving from 1953 to 1957.
In 1955 he left the BHE and joined the Christian Democratic Union/Christlich Soziale Union (Christian Social Union) faction in March 1956. Following the resignation of Otto von Feury, Eckhardt, who had not been elected in the first place, rejoined the Bundestag for the rest of the term.
Similarly, he only rejoined the Bundestag after the next elections as replacement candidate from 1964 to 1969.
The Walter Eckhardt Award for Contemporary History of the Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt is awarded in his memory. Eckhardt was married with two daughters.