In the caucus of West Germany's Christian Democratic Party that two years ago picked Kurt Kiesinger to succeed Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor, 51 votes from Bavaria's Christian Socialist Union (CSU) assured his victory. It was Franz Josef Strauss who threw these votes behind Kiesinger, earning himself a place in the Grand Coalition government. Last week Strauss was saying, "I would rather grow pineapples in Alaska than be the German Chancellor." Hardly anyone in Bonn believed him.
At 53 no longer the ebullient prodigy of postwar German politics, but hardly mellowed in his political ambitions, Strauss seemed to be gradually maneuvering...
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