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FRANZ JOSEF STRAUSS
MAKES HIS BID
West Germany's "man for emergencies" is in the running for the chancellorship next year. His
campaign against Helmut Schmidt, says London's
Daily Telegraph,
promises to be a "titanic duel...
~~~
hope the German people will
never be
in such bad shape
that they think they have to
elect
me
federal chancellor."
Bavaria's number-one political fig–
ure made that oft-quoted statement
to the West German news magazine
Der Spiegel
in May 1971.
"Good times" are sti ll here for
West Germany, at least in compari–
son with the sluggish economies of
the rest of the free world. But per-
4
by
Gene H. Hogberg
haps Franz Josef Strauss, described
by
Newsweek
magazine as "without
doubt
the
strongest single political
talent in Germany," senses some–
thing that his countrymen are not yet
aware of-that rough days are just
around the corner, and that bis
"hour" is about to arrive.
Wins Out Over Younger Rival
After a tense seven-hour-long inter–
party caucus on Monday, J uly 2, the
Christian Democratic Union/Chris–
tian Socialist Union parliamentary
candidates voted 135 to 102 in favor
of Strauss as their chancellor candi–
date. Strauss, who will be 64 in Sep–
tember, won out
over
his rival CDU
favorite, Ernst Albrecht, the fast-ris–
ing 49-year-old premier of Lower
Saxony.
The outcome was a slap in the face
for Helmut Kohl, national chairman
of the CDU (and unsuccessful chal-
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1979