ABSTRACT
Brandt could be content with the way in which the triangle between Berlin, Bonn and Washington intertwined international and domestic politics – he was clearly at the winning end. Ultimately, however, playing off Kennedy against Adenauer could not be an end in itself: what eventually mattered for Brandt as a party politician was winning elections and for Brandt as a statesman a popular mandate for the policies he deemed necessary. In this respect, Brandt’s advantage in the United States was only useful to the extent that it could be translated into a domestic advantage.
