Word: west
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...have never shown any talent for democracy, are today corroded by 16 years' dictatorship, war and defeat. They have probably made greater progress toward democracy than the U.S. had a right to expect on V-E day; the many political-action groups which have sprung up all over West Germany, and the high turnout (nearly 80% of the eligible voters) at last summer's elections, indicate that at least some Germans have begun to see that the government is their concern. When Secretary of State Dean Acheson recently visited Germany, the people showed a genuine, spontaneous warmth toward...
...Germany," he says, "must declare herself wholeheartedly for the Christian world of the West and all it stands for." Adenauer is a devout Roman Catholic, but his party and his cabinet include some Protestants, with whom he works well. Politically, he is a Christian Democrat. He was a firm anti-Nazi and is an equally firm antiCommunist. He has a profound distaste for socialism. He has told Americans: "To many people, socialism is all right, only national socialism is bad. I say socialism-if it runs its course-must ultimately become national socialism...
...Christian Democrats' official program contains some welfare state features; Adenauer himself has often said that capitalism must assume "social responsibility." Actually t his party's attitude toward labor is still undefined. Many of West Germany's industrialists, who generally support Adenauer, do not like the innovations-profit-sharing plans, management-labor councils-which the military government introduced. Sighed one union leader last week: "Capitalists in the U.S. are so much more farsighted in their labor relations than our bosses...
...applied for the post of assistant to the mayor of Cologne 43 years ago, he argued that he ought to get the job because he was no worse than the other candidates. Some of Adenauer's critics today say that the same applies to his new job as West Germany's Chancellor. Actually, Adenauer is a great deal better than other candidates; he ranks far above most other figures on the German political scene. The only man who approaches Adenauer's stature is the Socialists' Kurt Schumacher. With sharp, sardonic intelligence and fierce oratory, one-armed...
...Socialists (who won 131 parliamentary seats in the last election to the Christian Democrats' 139) have made a .tactical mistake by concentrating their fire on Adenauer's deal with the West, which most Germans welcome. For the time being, Adenauer was in no danger of being ousted by Schumacher...