R920th-21st

The Christian Democrats took substantial power in West Germany in 1982. This was when Helmut Kohl took power in the 1980’s during the re-unification of Germany. Helmut Kohl was the President of the Germany from before it was unified. He had taken power in 1982 and left in 1998. Germany was reunified in 1990, so instead of being President of just West Germany, he became president of the entire nation after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His politics was somewhat conservative with a religious message, hence the term Christian Democrat. He was conservative in foreign policy as well, supporting United States President Ronald Regan’s more aggressive anti communist campaign.

McKay, John P. __A History of Western Society__. 7th ed. New York City: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.