Reforming Paragraph 175

Abstract

The Adenauer era officially came to an end on October 16, 1963 when Adenauer was pressured to resign. His reputation had been tarnished during the last years of his office by his weak reaction to the building of the Berlin Wall, the infamous Spiegel Affair that raised the issue of state censorship once again, and growing diplomatic problems created by his unwillingness to officially recognize East Germany. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU)-led coalition stayed in power, but now under the leadership of Ludwig Erhard, the new Chancellor of West Germany. Erhard would steer his party successfully through the election year of 1965, winning just short of 50 percent of the votes, but across the country there was mounting evidence that the social and political situation was rapidly changing.1