West Germany: The Cost of Adenauer

It was the fiercest, longest, and almost certainly the last big battle the old man would ever fight. Its cost may be reckoned for years to come. But after seven weeks of haggling, browbeating, trickery and galling compromise, Konrad Adenauer still reigned last week as West Germany's Chancellor.

To form a coalition government after his Christian Democrats lost their Bundestag majority in West Germany's September election, Adenauer had to stanch a revolt in his own party and stretch its program to the snapping point. All this took 80 hours of wrangling with Erich...

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