Shortly after the
Spiegel affair, the resignation of Defence Minister
Franz Josef Strauss was required to gain back the
FDP's support for the cabinet, leading to a reshuffle. The heavily reshuffled cabinet is sometimes referred to as cabinet Adenauer V; however, this is not constitutionally correct, since no new election of the chancellor took place. The government still drew its constitutional legitimacy from Adenauer's election on 14 November 1961. Adenauer decided to retire just a few months later, following which
Ludwig Erhard was elected as Chancellor and formed the
first Erhard cabinet on 17 October 1963. == References and notes ==