Spiegel Scandal and Retirement
In October 1962, a scandal erupted when police arrested five Der Spiegel journalists, charging them with high treason for publishing a memo detailing weaknesses in the West German armed forces. Adenauer had not initiated the arrests, but initially defended the person responsible, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, and called the Spiegel memo "abyss of treason". After public outrage and heavy protests from the coalition partner FDP he dismissed Strauss, but the reputation of Adenauer and his party had already suffered.
Adenauer managed to remain in office for almost another year, but the scandal increased the pressure already on him to fulfill his promise to resign before the end of the term. Adenauer was not on good terms with his economics minister Ludwig Erhard and tried to block him from the chancellorship. Adenauer failed, and in October 1963 he turned the office over to Erhard. He did remain chairman of the CDU until his resignation in December 1966.
Read more about this topic: Konrad Adenauer
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