IT was a scene reminiscent of 1829, when Andrew Jackson's mud-booted backwoods supporters swarmed into the White House for Old Hickory's Inaugural Day reception. Celebrating his election last week as West Germany's first postwar Socialist Chancellor, Willy Brandt invited all comers to his official villa on Bonn's exclusive Venusberg, overlooking the Rhine.
Brandt and his flaxen-haired Norwegian wife Rut were at the door to greet the crowd. More than 500 ordinary Germans, who normally would have been held back by police lines, trooped into the splendidly furnished 14-room residence. Stiff at first, they...
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