Word: wehner
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...late 1966, in a protest against tax hikes, the Free Democrats suddenly resigned as partners in Erhard's coalition Cabinet. For five weeks, West Germany drifted without an effective government, while Socialist Strategist Wehner pondered a dilemma: Should the S.P.D., out of power for 36 years, seek a coalition with the unpredictable Free Democrats and risk making a mess of things? Or should it bide its time and join a C.D.U.-led Grand Coalition to show voters that they were capable of governing the country? Wehner chose the second course, and the experiment turned out to be a success...
...Herbert Wehner, 63, the ex-Communist who masterminds the party's strategy. A terrible-tempered, pipe-smoking father figure, Wehner exercises absolute control over the ideological direction of the party. He will be Brandt's most influential adviser, and is likely to retain the Cabinet post of Minister for All-German Affairs that he held in the Grand Coalition...
...within the German nation." The Free Democrats have found sympathizers among about one-third of the delegates to last week's Socialist congress in Bad Godesberg. Two important regional delegations even pushed for a resolution similar to the Free Democrats' program. But Brandt and Deputy Chairman Herbert Wehner tempered the Socialist stand somewhat while still coming out in favor of accepting East Germany as a political fact of life. Read the Socialist resolution: "It would be unrealistic to deny the existence of the other part of Germany or not to take cognizance of the political realities...
Inevitably, the blame centered on Wehner. Last March, outside the hall in Nürnberg where the Socialists were holding their convention, a mob of young party dissidents attacked Wehner, loosening a tooth and knocking off his glasses. Since then, hecklers have hounded him at nearly every speech with cries of "Labor traitor" and "Fascist." Erupting in fierce outbursts, Wehner has replied in kind, calling his detractors "Communists," and warning that their leftist attacks against the party's moderate policies would only encourage the growth of the new rightist extremists. "As you bellow into the German forest," he declared...
Curing the Sniffles. The party's answer to Wehner, 61 and ill with diabetes, was a shift designed to reduce his influence. In the newly created post of party general manager, Brandt installed a trusted helper, Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, 45. Now the minister for aid to developing countries, he will take over from Wehner the responsibility for getting the party into shape for next year's national elections. The appointment also meant that the Social Democrats, who under Wehner's influence have played down their differences with the Christian Democrats in the Grand Coalition...