Who's Next?

Crusty old Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was laying about him with splendid gusto last week, wisecracking about American politics ("Say, what ever happened to Lyndon Johnson?"), needling the British (he says they deliberately spread misconceptions), even taking a backhanded dig at his pal in Paris, Charles de Gaulle.

"Stupidity" was the cause of Western Europe's current disunity, Adenauer told a dinner meeting of the foreign press in Bonn. Whose stupidity? "I believe these things have been committed not only by Britain but by others as well," he sighed. Was any of it committed on the River Seine? asked a reporter. "I deliberately have not mentioned any names," retorted der Alte. "Whoever fits the coat should wear it."

Adenauer's free and easy remarks were merely signs of the relaxed and reflective mood that has come over the 87-year-old Chancellor now that he has finally made up his mind to give up West Germany's top job. Last week he offered no objections when a caucus meeting of his Christian Democrats authorized C.D.U. Bundestag Leader Heinrich von Brentano to canvass all the factions and suggest a candidate to take over next fall and lead the party in the 1965 elections.

The heir-apparent is still avuncular Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard, architect of the West German economic boom, and the most popular choice among West German voters. One Cabinet minister guesses that Erhard also commands the loyalty of 60% of C.D.U. politicians. But Erhard still has one formidable enemy--der Alte himself who has conducted a petulant feud with paunchy "Uncle Ludwig." Adenauer's influence is still great, and last week the field was still wide open with half a dozen other candidates, led by Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroder, to be considered. Whom would der Alte prefer? "I don't want to push anyone into misery," he grinned impishly to foreign correspondents. "Do you think this job is a pleasure?"

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