Editing Spiegel affair (section)

== Background ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F032086-0037, Kanzleramt, Brandt gibt Sommerfest.jpg|thumb|[[Rudolf Augstein]] (right) in 1970 with Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]]]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F023363-0016, Empfang in der Landesvertretung, Franz Josef Strauß.jpg|thumb|[[Franz Josef Strauss]] in 1966]]
[[Franz Josef Strauss]] had been the first [[Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)|Federal Minister of Defence]] of [[West Germany]] since October 1956, in the [[Third Adenauer cabinet|third cabinet]] of Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]]. This position put him in charge of building up the ''[[Bundeswehr]]'', the newly-created [[armed forces]] of West Germany, which was an extremely important role at the height of the [[Cold War]]. In 1961, Strauss had been accused of accepting [[bribes]] during the [[Lockheed bribery scandals]], while negotiating the purchase of [[Lockheed F-104 Starfighter|F-104G Starfighters]] for the [[German Air Force]]. Strauss was not [[Indictment|indicted]] despite claims from [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] associates of him receiving payments, and he filed a [[defamation]] lawsuit against his accuser.

Strauss first clashed with [[Rudolf Augstein]], the owner and [[editor-in-chief]] of the influential ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' magazine, in 1961 when it raised accusations of bribery in favor of the [[Fibag scandal|FIBAG]] construction company, which had received a contract for building [[Military base|military facilities]]. A ''[[Bundestag]]'' enquiry was held but found no evidence against Strauss and the issue was dropped.{{cn|date=October 2018}}