Selling the economic miracle: Economic propaganda and political power in West Germany, 1949--1957

This dissertation analyzes the political uses of West Germany's economic reconstruction in the 1950s, termed the Economic Miracle. Through an examination of election campaign propaganda and various public relations campaigns, this dissertation explores how conservative political and economic groups constructed and sold a political meaning of the Economic Miracle and the Social Market Economy, West Germany's combination of the free market with social underpinnings. The political meaning of economics contributed to conservative electoral success, constructed a new belief in the free market economy within West German society, and provided legitimacy for the new Federal Republic of Germany.;The "selling" of the Economic Miracle involved the adoption of American political campaigning styles, commercial advertising techniques, and demographic polling by business interests and the leading conservative political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The Social Market Economy and the Economic Miracle were such effective political "products" because their meanings were easily constructed within a number of different political contexts, and thereby reached the maximum number of "consumers.";This dissertation demonstrates the emergence and evolution of the political culture for the newly formed Federal Republic. Using economics as a central issue, the CDU succeeded in reaching out to a broad range of interests during the 1950s, including Catholics, women, some Protestants, and business interests. The Social Democratic Party, the CDU's main political competitor, was able with its Marxist ideology to attract only the working-class vote and was relegated to the opposition. The CDU became "Americanized" not only in the sense that its election campaigns copied American techniques, but also that it was able to bring varied interests under its tent---a change for the CDU that contributed significantly to the Federal Republic's political stability. This was an important contrast from political parties in the Weimar period, which tended to be based upon narrow and rigid segments of society.;This dissertation argues that political and economic associations sought to create a new West German political consciousness. This effort, especially in the area of economics, was predicated upon a conscious fear of the political problems of the 1920s and sought to overcome the social tensions that tore the Weimar Republic apart. At the same time, economic reconstruction became a basis for a new, uniquely West German national identity that helped fill the vacuum left by the discredited form of nationalism represented by the Third Reich.