Der Dicke Takes Over

For years No. 8 Schleichstrasse was like any other house on the suburban Bonn hillside called Venusberg. Everything was always spick-and-span, and from the kitchen came the odor of Bavarian stew. No. 8's occupant, a chubby, rumpled man with pink bulging face and bulging briefcase, went to the office each morning, returned each evening, like so many hard-working businessmen of the district.

One morning last week a sleek black Mercedes limousine with official license plates glided up to the curb; the chauffeur nodded amiably to the plainclothes policeman who had taken up station on the sidewalk during the night. Both beamed as Ludwig Erhard emerged from No. 8 to ride to Parliament and be confirmed as the new Chancellor of West Germany.

The Middle Way. It was a great moment for der Dicke (the Fat One). For 14 years, as economics minister, he had struggled alongside crusty old Konrad Adenauer to build a new nation out of war's rubble, and he had succeeded beyond all expectation: today West Germany has the strongest economy in all Europe and can boast a healthy growth of democratic roots. At 66, Ludwig Erhard is also by far the country's most popular politician. Meritably, the Bundestag gave him a whopping majority approval to take over from the retiring Adenauer.

West Germany's eagle symbol loomed on the wall behind the speaker's stand as Erhard rose to deliver his two-hour acceptance address. "My policy is a policy of the middle way," he declared, making clear that he planned no major departures in West Germany's domestic or foreign affairs. To the U.S., he gave assurance of the closest friendship. To Europe, he promised his strongest efforts to strengthen the budding ties of integration. There would be no disavowal of Konrad Adenauer's Franco-German pact, and he hoped Bonn would remain on warm terms with Paris. But, he added emphatically, "we must also cultivate relations with other European states, especially with Great Britain." It was hint enough that Bonn wanted no part of Charles de Gaulle's narrow concept of Europe, would continue to press for Britain's entry into the Common Market.

Stronger Reality. Erhard gave qualified blessing to the further exploration of an East-West detente, with the admonition that both sides remember a cardinal need: a solution to the problem of divided Germany. "We are told that division of our country is a 'reality' which has to be accepted," he declared. "Of course it is a reality, but it is an unbearable one. An illness, too, is a reality, but no one would think of blaming someone who tries to cure the disease."

Above all, he added, "if the division of our country is put forward as a reality, the will of the German people to restore its unity is a far stronger reality."

As der Dicke spoke, his newly appointed Cabinet sat proudly on the government benches. Erhard had made few changes, and was not particularly pleased about them. For one thing, he had wanted Civil Servant Ludger Westrick, his able No. 2 man at the Ministry of Economics, as new Economics Minister. But Christian Democratic Union bosses insisted on a politician in the job, and Erhard finally agreed to the appointment of Kurt Schmucker, a politically safe but untutored industrialist. Erhard had held out against more power in the Cabinet for the C.D.U.'s coalition partners, the Free Democrats, but now they had forced him to give Free Democrat Leader Erich Mende not only a vice chancellorship but also an important Cabinet post, the Ministry for All-German Affairs, which concerns itself with the problems of East Germany.

Preference tor Teamwork. Some suggested that all this betrayed Erhard's "softness." True, Erhard made no secret of the fact that he preferred teamwork to the stiff authoritarian style of rule practiced by Adenauer. He gave his ministers a small taste of the new atmosphere last week by lighting a cigar at the first Cabinet meeting--no one had ever been permitted to smoke in der Alte's presence. The Cabinet would have more leeway on serious matters as well. But so far he had done no more compromising than any other politician who must deal with the intricacies of intraparty factions and coalition bargaining. And he had ended his acceptance speech with a quotation from Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea to show his inner resolve:

For in these unsettled times, the man

Whose mind is unsettled

Only increases the evil and spreads it

Wider and wider

While the man of firm purpose builds

A world of his liking.

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