his outstanding combat record as a machine gun officer; and was reconciled to his being a Catholic. In January 1930, Meissner told Kuno von Westarp that soon Muller's "Grand Coalition" would be replaced by a "presidential government" that would exclude the Social Democrats, adding that the coming "Hindenburg government" would be "anti-Marxist" and "anti-parliamentarian", serving as a transition to a dictatorship. Schleicher maneuvered to exacerbate a bitter dispute within Müller's coalition, which was divided over whether the unemployment insurance rate should be raised by a half percentage point or a full percentage point. With the Grand Coalition government lacking support in the Reichstag, Müller asked Hindenburg to have his budget approved under Article 48, but Schleicher persuaded Hindenburg to refuse. Müller's government fell on 27 March 1930 and Brüning became chancellor. Brüning had hesitated because he lacked parliamentary support, but Hindenburg appealed to his sense of duty and threatened to resign himself. Only the four Social Democrats in the previous cabinet were replaced, forming what the press labeled the "Hindenburg Cabinet", which Dorpalen argues "failed to produce the hoped for turn of events". The depression grew worse, unemployment was soaring, and now the constitutional system had been drastically shaken. Urged on by the president, the Reichstag passed a bill supporting agriculture by raising tariffs and providing subsidies. Faced with declining tax revenues and mounting costs for unemployment insurance, Brüning introduced an austerity budget with steep spending cuts and steep tax increases. The Young Plan required such a balanced budget. Nonetheless, his budget was defeated in the Reichstag in July 1930, so Hindenburg signed it into law by invoking Article 48. The Reichstag voted to repeal the budget, so Hindenburg dissolved it just two years into its mandate, and re-approved the budget with Article 48. Unemployment was still soaring. Hindenburg took no part in the campaign, in the September 1930 elections the Nazis achieved an electoral breakthrough, gaining 17 percent of the vote to become the second-strongest party in the Reichstag. The Communists also made striking gains, albeit not so great. After the elections, Brüning continued to govern largely through Article 48; his government was kept afloat by the Social Democrats who voted against canceling his Article 48 bills in order to avoid another election that could only benefit the Nazis and the Communists. The German historian Eberhard Jäckel concluded that presidential government was within the letter of the constitution, but