Fourth Adenauer cabinet

Fourth Cabinet of Konrad Adenauer
Cabinet Adenauer IV

4th Cabinet of West Germany
14 November 1961 – 15 October 1963
(until 17 October 1963 as caretaker government)
Date formed14 November 1961 (1961-11-14)
Date dissolved15 October 1963 (1963-10-15)
(1 year, 11 months and 1 day)
People and organisations
PresidentHeinrich Lübke
ChancellorKonrad Adenauer
Vice-ChancellorLudwig Erhard
Member parties
Status in legislatureCoalition majority
309/499 (62%)




Opposition partySocial Democratic Party
Opposition leaderErich Ollenhauer (SPD)
History
Election1961 West German federal election
Legislature term4th Bundestag
PredecessorAdenauer III
SuccessorErhard I

The Fourth Adenauer cabinet (German: Kabinett Adenauer IV) was formed by incumbent Chancellor Konrad Adenauer after the 1961 federal election. The cabinet was sworn in on 14 November 1961.

The Spiegel affair in 1962 caused the coalition to fall apart over Defence Minister Franz Josef Strauss' actions which violated press freedom, leading to all FDP ministers resigning in protest. As a result, the cabinet was a minority government of the CDU/CSU for just under a month in the fall of 1962 before Adenauer was able to convince the FDP to return to the coalition by assuring Strauß' resignation.