Word: schmidts
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...expected to win a clear majority in that election, the Christian Democrats polled 45.6% of the vote. The Free Democrats were wiped out of the assembly, gaining only 3.1% of the vote, far less than the 5% necessary to retain representation. Campaigning vigorously under the slogan "Betrayal in Bonn," Schmidt's Social Democrats gained 42.8%, an increase of more than 10 percentage points over their predicted total. Said S.D.P. Chairman Willy Brandt after the election: "The electorate has spoken. The Hesse elections have strong national implications...
...politician from Rhine-land-Palatinate who has spent three decades in Christian Democratic national politics, Kohl is a striking contrast to the hard-driving and brilliant but sometimes arrogant Schmidt. Known in West Germany as the Black Giant, the dark-com plexioned 6-ft. 4-in. jowly Kohl is folksy, gregarious and a devout Roman Catholic. In the Bundestag, Schmidt is always poised and formal. Kohl, on the other hand, has frequently been seen sitting on the opposition benches roaring with laughter, as if parliamentary business were some huge joke. Kohl is fond of saying that "my strength is that...
Last week's momentous Bundestag vote grew out of weeks of virtual paralysis and political infighting between the country's major parties following the Sept. 17 breakup of Helmut Schmidt's ruling center-left coalition. It marked the first time in West Germany's postwar history that a change in leadership was brought about by the use of the "constructive" procedure.* The unorthodox method of the changing of the guard in Bonn gave an element of instability and uncertainty to the fledgling Kohl government, which has tentatively promised national elections for next March 6. Kohl...
...personal differences between Kohl and Schmidt will undoubtedly stand out most sharply at international conference tables. With his economist's training and his experience as West German Defense Minister under Brandt, Schmidt brought vast expertise to international economic issues and nu clear defense questions within NATO, a gap that Kohl cannot hope to fill. Balanced against that, however, was Schmidt's notorious impatience, which drew sparks from other strong-willed statesmen, and his increasingly frequent bouts of personal depression...
Despite his inexperience, the jovial Kohl may get along better than Schmidt did with Ronald Reagan and Britain's Margaret Thatcher. The fact that the three share a conservative political philosophy may be more important than one impediment to mutual understanding: Kohl speaks little English. In Washington, White House officials note with pleasure such Kohl statements as: "People have come to think of the Soviet Union only as a détente and trade partner. We have to remind them of the true nature of Soviet expansionism...