Brandt,Willy b. December 18, 1913; Lubeck d. October 8, 1992; Unkel, North Rhine Westfalia
Mayor of West Berlin (1957-1966), foreign secretary of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, 1966-1969), chancellor of the FRG (1969-1974), chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, 1964-1987), and chairman of the Socialist International (SI, 1976-1992).
Willy Brandt was born Herbert Karl Frahm.As long as he lived, Brandt consistently held transatlantic relations to be indispensable. He never questioned the cardinal importance of the United States or of the transatlantic alliance, holding fast to this belief, which he had adopted during World War II. Nonetheless, changes in Brandt’s attitude toward the United States occured between the 1950s and 1970s, with his coming into power marking a turning point. Over these decades, he metamorphosed from an enthusiastic to a self-confident, pragmatic champion of transatlantic relations. Already during World War II, Brandt was convinced that reconstructing a democratic Germany and integrating it into Europe would be impossible without American support. In the 1950s, he was among a small contingent of politicians within the SPD who, in opposition to Kurt Schumacher and the party majority, supported the FRG’s integration into the Western bloc, as well as a strong orientation toward the United States. In the early 1960s, the SPD came round to adopting this policy, ending the dissension between the party and Brandt, at that point the party’s candidate for the chancellorship. Initially, Berlin and its overriding importance in the cold war proved to be pivotal for Brandt’s relations with the United States. Having been elected mayor of West Berlin in October 1957, Brandt used this opportunity to consolidate ties with the United States, thus furthering his ambitions in domestic politics. In his capacity of mayor of Berlin, Brandt visited the United States in February 1958, February 1959, March 1961, October 1962, November 1963, May 1964, and April 1965.
As a rule, the United States accorded him the courtesies reserved for prominent statesmen, and he met with the presidents of the time and other leading politicians. John F. Kennedy and Brandt shared a particularly close relationship.When the Berlin Wall went up on August 13, 1961, Brandt, like so many others in West Berlin and West Germany, was disappointed by the muted U.S. response. Nonetheless, and unlike the Adenauer administration, he avoided any kind of open confrontation with the Americans, except for a letter to President Kennedy of August 16, 1961, in which he urged the president to take some action. In any case, Brandt was able to turn this situation to his advantage by presenting himself as the guarantor of stability and continuity in friendly German American relations. At the time, he knew well that his policy of detente with the Eastern bloc depended on American support.
By the time Brandt was elected the first Social Democratic chancellor of the FRG on October 21, 1969, the focus of U.S. foreign policy had already shifted from Germany and Europe to Asia. Nevertheless, the Nixon administration agreed with Germany’s new Ostpolitik in principle while harboring some reservations about its possible long-term consequences, such as the loosening of the Atlantic pact, which might compromise U.S. influence in Europe. Consequently, German initiatives were initially met with some reservation, which diminished as Germany’s negotiations proved increasingly successful and did not lead to any blocking of political activity in the East. Yet under Brandt’s chancellorship, German American relations underwent a fundamental change, which had set in during the time of the Big Coalition (1966—1969). This process aimed at political emancipation from the United States. The FRG wanted to advance from junior partner to meeting the United States on an equal footing. Thus, while U.S. officials and political departments were regularly kept informed about the progress of West German negotiations with the Soviet Union, Poland, and so on, no details were discussed in advance.
The Brandt government was in no doubt that Ostpolitik could not succeed without U.S. approval, which was especially true with regard to the status of Berlin. Friendly German American relations were thus not questioned, were praised, indeed reaffirmed in public
President John F Kennedy and Mayor Willy Brandt of West Berlin at the White House, March 13, 1961. (Library of Congress)
speeches, and effectively stage-managed for the media, particularly during bilateral state visits. What counted were the effects: the support of the superpower United States strengthened the hand of the FRG in its dealings with the Eastern bloc, and domestically solid ties with the United States proved a boon for Brandt and his government.
As long as Brandt was chancellor, he never publicly criticized nor distanced himself from the United States. On the contrary, he lost no opportunity to emphasize the overriding importance of German American relations and close ties with the United States.
See also Berlin Wall; West Berlin
References and Further Reading
Merseburger, Peter. Willy Brandt, 1913—1992: Visionar und Realist. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2002.
Munkel, Daniel. “Als ‘deutscher Kennedy’ zum Sieg? Willy Brandt, Amerika, und die Medien.” Zeithistorische Forschungen 1 (2004), Heft 2.
------. Willy Brandt und die “Vierte Gewalt. ” Politik und Massenmedien in den 50er bis 70er Jahren. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus Verlag, 2005.
Orlow, Dietrich. “Ambivalence and Attraction: The German Social Democrats and the United States.” In The American Impact on Postwar Germany. Ed. Reiner Pommerin. Providence: Berghahn Books, 1997, 35-51.
Daniela Munkel