ABSTRACT
The 13 years 1969-82 were a period in which West Germany seemed to gain a greater importance, a new stature, in the international community. This was made possible by the Federal Republic's continued economic expansion, and by its active diplomacy. Brandt was anxious that his government should be a reforming administration and a number of reforms were embarked upon. The Greens developed out of earlier protest movements especially the student protest movement of the 1960s. The earlier protesters were integrated into the new s p d establishment after 1969, a tiny handful became urban terrorists. Others remained outside the mainstream of politics, unconvinced by Brandt's social-liberal coalition. That coalition, as by Helmut Schmidt from 1974, disappointed many young idealists by its reliance on the nuclear deterrent and nuclear power, attempts to maximize growth. The main issue at the election of 1980 was whether Bavarian c s u leader Franz Josef Strauss was fit to be Chancellor of the Federal Republic.
