Word: west
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Thus, 91 years to the day after Bismarck banned the Socialists from Imperial Germany and 39 years since the party last headed a government, a Socialist candidate was chosen to lead West Germany. Political Strategist Herbert Wehner, the fierce ex-Communist who masterminded the transformation of the Socialists from a blue-collar movement into a more broadly based party, rushed to embrace Brandt. Their dream finally realized, Brandt openly wept. "I am satisfied, grateful for the confidence and a little proud," he said a few moments later. Then the new Chancellor, who spent the Nazi years in Scandinavian exile, added...
...Republic and the Soviet Union." The East German press has also struck a more conciliatory tone. As Brandt himself is fully aware, there is always the danger that the Communists might be playing on Western hopes for peace, and will later pull back from negotiations for better relations with West Germany. For his part, Brandt must move cautiously in order to avoid charges in West Germany that he is too eager to make concessions to the Communists...
...upshot of Brandt's initiative to the East, it does signify a willingness to experiment that has been lacking in recent Bonn Governments. In a sense, his open house for the people of Bonn symbolizes the same mood. Unburdened by a questionable past and refreshingly free of stuffiness. West Germany's new government is likely to be very much open to change...
THOUGH they may disagree with his policies, foreign diplomats will find it difficult to dislike West Germany's new Foreign Minister. Affable and engaging, Walter Scheel, who is also the leader of the Free Democratic Party, has the relaxed manner and quick wit of a Rhinelander. An adept mime, he delights in performing creditable imitations of other West German politicians. He loves to tell jokes, often making himself the butt. At a recent ball in West Berlin, for example, he showed up wearing a hand-lettered sign on his lapel that read in English: "Kiss...
After wartime service as a Luftwaffe fighter pilot (four allied planes bagged and two Iron Crosses), he worked as a superintendent in a small steel mill. He was elected in 1953 to the Bundestag and served for five years (1961-66) as West Germany's Minister for Economic Cooperation, a post that gave him a solid grounding in international affairs. Two years ago, Scheel won control from the conservative faction of the Free Democrats and engineered a radical shift in party policy-from right of the Christian Democrats to left of the Socialists on a number of issues...