Editing Willy Brandt (section)

=== New elections ===
{{see also|1972 West German federal election}}
Though Brandt remained chancellor, he had lost his majority. Subsequent initiatives in parliament, most notably on the budget, failed. Because of this stalemate, the Bundestag was dissolved, and new elections were called. During the 1972 campaign, many popular West German artists, intellectuals, writers, actors and professors supported Brandt and the SPD. Among them were [[Günter Grass]], [[Walter Jens]], and even the [[soccer]] player [[Paul Breitner]]. Brandt's ''{{Lang|de|Ostpolitik}}'' as well as his reformist domestic policies were popular with parts of the young generation, and he led the SPD to its best-ever federal election result in late 1972.

However, the ''{{Lang|de|Willy-Wahl}}'', Brandt's landslide win, was the beginning of the end, and Brandt's role in government started to decline. Many of his reforms met with resistance from state governments, dominated by CDU/CSU. The spirit of reformist optimism was cut short by the [[1973 oil crisis]] and the major public services strike of 1974, which gave Germany's trade unions, led by [[Heinz Kluncker]], a big wage increase but reduced Brandt's financial leeway for further reforms. Brandt was said to be more a dreamer than a manager and was personally haunted by depression. To counter any notions about being sympathetic to Communism or soft on [[left-wing politics|left-wing]] extremists, Brandt implemented tough legislation that barred "radicals" from public service (''{{Lang|de|[[Radikalenerlass]]}}'').