Adenauer's Waning Powers
CHAMBERLIN, WILLIAM HENRY
PERSPECTIVES Adenauer's Waning Powers By William Henry Chamberlin Bonn Konrad Adenauer used to dominate the political scene here in very much the same way that the old castle of...
...He is widely considered the author of "the economic miracle," West Germany's amazingly rapid progress from postwar ruin and desolation to today's almost feverish prosperity...
...And in 1962, for the first time, one notices signs that the beginning of the end of the Adenauer era is at hand...
...At the moment Schroeder, whose independent course has won him praise from both the Free Democrats and Social Democrats, seems the best guess...
...There is a disposition here—even among some who, on balance, admire the Chancellor's political handiwork— to be apprehensive about fresh tests of his diplomatic skill, such as his recent meeting with General de Gaulle...
...Most of those whom one meets in the offices and corridors of the austerely functional Bundestag building believe it will be Ludwig Erhard, the current Minister of Economic Affairs...
...Regardless of who succeeds Adenauer, however, there is every prospect of the continuance of the rule of law and parliamentary processes after this extraordinary man, the greatest German statesman since Bismarck, finally belongs to history...
...Schroeder has taken a noticeably less serious view than Adenauer of some rough spots in the recent course of U.S.-German relations...
...Whereas the former Foreign Minister, Heinrich von Brentano, was a faithful mouthpiece of his chief, his successor, Gerhard Schroeder, often strikes out on an independent line...
...Nature seems to have begun to claim its rights: There are occassional spells of apathy, of loss of memory, of undue repetitiousness...
...Adenauer has affirmed his intention of withdrawing from the scene early enough to give his successor time to prepare for the next national election in 1965...
...Neither Erhard nor Krone is likely to have a term of office as long as Adenauer's...
...There is much speculation as to which of the CDU's younger men will finally inherit the Adenauer mantle...
...The Chancellor's waning powers are reflected in some loss of authority...
...As one perceptive Swiss journalist has put it, "Bonn ist nicht Weimar...
...Yet Erhard is regarded as the more promising vote-getter, and Krone has thus far shone as a mediator of differences rather than as a strong political leader...
...But the list of candidates also includes von Brentano, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss and Eugen Gerstenmeier, the President of the Bundestag...
...Many tend to view with resignation, if not with positive satisfaction, the likelihood that he will step down in 1963 or, at the latest, 1964...
...The long and undignified haggling over the coalition Government set up after the election did not show the Chancellor at his best, either...
...Erhard's principal handicap is clearly that Adenauer does not regard him as a suitable successor, and has snubbed him on more than one occasion...
...The Chancellor's personal choice for interim successor is believed to be Heinrich Krone, Minister Without Portfolio in the present Cabinet and a veteran parliamentarian whose political activity dates back to the Center, the Catholic party which grew up before World War I and carried on during the Weimar Republic...
...With no significant destructive extremism, and with only marginal differences between the CDU and the Social Democrats, it would take a tremendous crisis in foreign policy or economics to shake the calm order of the Federal Republic...
...But even the strongest political personalities finally pass from the stage...
...Since that time there has been a feeling, not confined to Adenauer's political opponents, that the hand on the steering wheel has been neither as firm nor as assured as in the past...
...PERSPECTIVES Adenauer's Waning Powers By William Henry Chamberlin Bonn Konrad Adenauer used to dominate the political scene here in very much the same way that the old castle of Drachenfels towers above the Rhine and above the little village of Rhoendorf, where the 86-year-old Chancellor still cultivates his roses during his limited periods of relaxation...
...Who will succeed Adenauer...
...At present, Erhard is apparently the only figure who rivals Adenauer in popularity...
...Perhaps the first symptom was Der Alte's rather unimaginative handling of the Berlin wall issue, which probably changed just enough votes to cost him and his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), an absolute majority in the national election last autumn...
Vol. 45 • July 1962 • No. 15
