With patience, stubbornness and political cunning. West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, 85, has for years avoided being pinned down on the fascinating question of when he will retire. Heirs apparent have aged while waiting in vain for der Alte to step down. Last week he was finally forced to commit himself. In order to form a coalition government between his Christian Democratic Union and Erich Mende's Free Democratic Party. Adenauer reportedly had to promise a written guarantee that he will resign the chancellorship. His distant deadline: summer 1963.
The Free Democrats, who scored heavily against Adenauer's C.D.U. in West Germany's recent...
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