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That worriers in the U.S. were assured by Adenauer's promise is a testament to his stature in the world beyond the Reich. And this fact in turn is perhaps his greatest strength at home. For of the many things that Germans have Adenauer to thank for, the greatest is his achievement in restoring Germany to the world's.councils. After years of non-fraternization, denazification, war guilt and moral outlawry, Germans were deeply moved to hear that their Federal Chancellor was consulted by Winston Churchill, honored and deferred to by the President of the U.S.
Adenauer knew the feeling; perhaps he shared it himself. Back from his U.S. visit, he told the German radio audience: "I shall never forget the visit to Arlington Cemetery," for there, "for the first time," Deutschland über Alles was played together with The Star-Spangled Banner.
The Chancellor's campaign managers rammed the point home in big posters:
"He Established Relations with the Free World." A Frankfurt clerk put it more convincingly, after listening to an Adenauer campaign speech. "We Germans have for a long time been on the outside," said 24-year-old Hans Joachim Berkemeier. "We were hated everywhere. Now they respect us. Other countries want to work with us. This is very important." Hans Joachim paused. Then he added: "The old man is the one who did this He is a great man."
* For Hitler's ramblings, some of them from the bunker, see BOOKS.