Germany in the “Erhard Era”
| Author | Robert Spencer |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900402 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Germany
in
the
"Erhard
Era"
Robert
Spencer*
When
Konrad Adenauer
retired
on
October
11,
1963,
he had
held
the
post
of
chancellor
for
over
fourteen
years-the
longest
span
of
political
leadership
in
Germany
since
Bismarck,
and
one
which
inevitably
suggested comparison
with
the architect
and
chief
statesman
of
the
Second
Reich.
So
closely
was
he associated
with
the
Federal
Republic
that
chancellorship
and
Adenauer
became
synonymous,
and
it
is
still
difficult
to
think
of
the
Federal
Republic
as
other
than
"Adenauer's
Germany."
For
nearly
a
decade
and
a
half
it
was
under
his
stern,
authoritarian
hand,
and
he
gave
to
it
the
unmistakable
impress
of
his
own
person-
ality. In
the
light
of
such a
total
identification
of
the
individual
and
his
political
creation,
the
problem
of
transition
to
a
new
"era"
was bound
to
be
difficult.
The
lesson of
recent
German
history
was
hardly
encouraging,
for
previous
"eras"
had
all too
often
ended
in
disaster. Bismarck's resignation
was
followed
by
a period
of
bitter
domestic
strife
in which
the
Bismarckian
con-
stitution
was
virtually
destroyed.
The
Empire
collapsed
in
war
and
revolution.
The
Weimar
Republic
gave
way
to
totalitarian
dictatorship.
Hitler's
Reich
ended
in
catastrophe
on
an unprece-
dented
scale.
The
Adenauer
era
alone came
to
an
end
in
a
"normal"
manner.
Among
the
many
criticisms
levelled
at
Adenauer-particu-
larly
towards
the
end
of
his
long
chancellorship-were
two
that
were clearly
contradictory.
On
the
one
hand
he
was
criticized
for
behaving
as
a
dictator
if,
albeit,
a
democratic
dictator.
On
the
other
he
was
often
pictured
as
the
sole
bulwark
defending
the
young West
German
state
against a
fresh
catastrophe
such
as
a
right-wing
nationalist
revival-a
naive
conception which
Aden-
auer
probably
shared,
as
was suggested
by his
oft-quoted
state-
ment
to Paul-Henri
Spaak
in
London
in
1954:
"My
God,
what
will
happen
to
Germany
when
I
am
not
there."
Since
his
retire-
ment
as
chancellor--one
can
by
no
means
speak
of
his
with-
drawal
from
the
political
scene-there
has
been
neither
collapse
*
Department
of
History, University
of
Toronto.
GERMANY
IN
THE "ERHARD
ERA"
459
not
the
emergence
of
a
new
Fiihrer.
The
transition
has
been
smoother
than
many
had
feared,
especially
as
Adenauer
had
hung
on
to
the
reins
too
long,
and
had
both
refused
to
prepare
a
successor
and
had
campaigned
against
the
obvious
choice
of
his
party.
The
continuities
abound--after
all,
Erhard
inherited
not
only
Adenauer's
cabinet
but
the
problems which
der
Alte
had
faced
as
well,
and
in
some
respects
the Bonner Demokratie
has
merely
evolved
along
paths
already
evident
in
Adenauer's
last
years.
Yet
there
have
been
sufficient
changes
in
German
affairs
to
permit
the
use,
with
perhaps
allowable
exaggeration,
of
the
term
"Erhard
Era."
These
changes have
been
in
part
the
natural
consequence
of
Adenauer's
removal
from
the
driver's
seat
and
the
advent
of
new
men
in
Bonn.
In
part,
and
particu-
larly
during
the
past
few
months,
they
represent
a
new
response
to
the
changing
world
situation
which
was
already
evident,
if
largely
ignored,
during
the
closing
period
of
Adenauer's
chancel-
lorship.
They
have
been
reflected
in
the
political
situation
in
Bonn,
in
the
Federal
Republic's
foreign
policy, as
well
as
in
relations
with
East
Germany and
the
problem
of
Berlin.
I
When
Erhard
was
elected
chancellor by
an
overwhelming
vote
on
October
16,
1963,
he
inherited
both
the
flourishing
econo-
mic
structure
to
which he
had
so
largely contributed,
and
a
func-
tioning constitutional
and
political
system.
Part
of
this
was
the
tradition
of
a
strong
chancellor
and
a
stable
party
structure
which approached a
two-party
system.
(Adenauer's
last
years,
with
the
loss
of
an
absolute
majority,
did
much
to
revive
both
the
power
and
aspirations
of
the
Free
Democratic
Party.)
With
the
removal
of
the
strong
hand
of
the
old
chancellor, some
splintering
of
authority-similar
to
that
which
followed
Bis-
marck's
retirement
in
1890-was
probably
inevitable.
What
has
occurred
in Bonn,
however,
appears
to have
gone
beyond
this,
and
so
serious
a
commentator
as
the
Frankfurter
Aligemeine
Zeitung
was
moved
to write
(on
August
12)
of
the
"End
of
the
Chancellor
Democracy."
Weimar
was
unashamedly
a
Fracktions-
demokratie,
in
which
the
parties
ruled
supreme
and government
was based on
agreement
between
them. But
in
Bonn,
under
Adenauer's leadership,
political power
developed
to
strengthen
the
chancellor
against
the
parties
rather
than
to
make
him
a
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