Word: brandts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When Willy Brandt's traditionally antimilitary Social Democratic Party took the helm in Bonn last fall, the unhappy men of the Bundeswehr were certain that bad would go to worse. They were concerned when Brandt chose as his Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt, then the party's Bundestag floor leader, who did not even want the job because it was regarded as a political graveyard. Concern turned to alarm when Schmidt created a McNamara-like think tank headed by Dr. Theo Sommer, 39, an intellectual and deputy editor of the highly regarded liberal weekly Die Zeit; to some military...
...NATO-assigned troops next year. The Western European countries, which also expect U.S. cutbacks, are unlikely to fill the anticipated gap. Britain might be willing to make a slightly larger contribution. So might West Germany, but Bonn could not raise more troops without jeopardizing Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, aimed at easing his country's long-strained relations with its eastern neighbors. The decline of NATO's defense zeal could well impede its progress as a force for détente. In fact, the main virtue of NATO's invitation was that it shifted the pressure...
...page riposte, Stoph ripped apart the underlying assumption of Brandt's Ostpolitik−that small steps in minor matters could ultimately lead to a rapprochement. Deriding Brandt's "arrogant demands," Stoph declared that East Germans would settle for nothing less than immediate diplomatic recognition. Stoph also rejected Brandt's thesis that two German states could exist within a single German nation...
...After lunch Stoph was scheduled to place a wreath on the monument to Nazi victims in the center of town, but West German authorities were forced to cancel the ceremony because of unruly, Communist-dominated crowds. Fearful that the conference would end in a complete fiasco, a visibly nervous Brandt apologized for the crowd's behavior. Later, in a give-and-take session, Brandt volunteered that Bonn would eventually "solve" East Germany's demand for recognition if Ulbricht & Co. would only respond to his offers of closer ties. Though Stoph was unresponsive, he declared on his return...
...five months of exploratory talks with the West Germans. The Russians, who hope to gain economic advantages from a deal with Bonn, do not want the East Germans to chill the diplomatic climate by breaking off contact at the very moment the Soviets are preparing to start negotiations with Brandt's government...