American Military Government and the Education of a New German Leadership
American policy plans and directives for the postwar occupation of Germany consistently envisioned a peaceful, democratic German society.' Nevertheless, neither the two major policy directives to the Military Governor nor the latter's interpretation of them shows how Americans planned to assist German democratic elements in recruiting and maintaining a new democratic leadership. Joint Chiefs of Staff directive 1067, issued in April 1945, discouraged fraternization with German officials as well as with the general population. It made only an innocuous reference to the eventual reconstruction of German political life on a democratic basis. JCS directive 1779, issued in July 1947, though more specific on democratic political reconstruction, envisioned a tranquil political arena marked by parties as voluntary associations, equal in privilege, competing regularly for the electorate's preferment. It directed the Military Governor not to discriminate between authorized parties and to seek uniform treatment for all parties.2 General Lucius D. Clay's interpretation of his mandate,