Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Willy Brandt’S Ostpolitik: The Changing Role In United States-West German Relations, An Analysis Of United States Government Internal Documents, Sara A. Popovich

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes a crucial period in the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America, through the use of US government internal documents. Willy Brandt brought forth a new vision of Ostpolitik that was starkly different from policies that the US had dealt with before, subsequently leaving the Nixon Administration largely unsure of how to react. The change in FRG economic positioning vis-à-vis the United States, and catalyst political events in the 1960’s, created the impetus for Brandt’s vision of OStpolitik, which culminated in the interim West German control of the Western Alliance’s Eastern …