Only one of the smaller post-war parties, the FDP survived despite many problems. In the 1957 federal elections they still reached 7.7 percent of the vote and held 41 of 497 seats in the Bundestag. However, they still remained in opposition because the Union won an absolute majority. At the federal party meeting in Berlin at the end of January 1957, Thomas Dehler was replaced as party chairman by another liberal democrat from South Germany, Reinhold Maier, who was able to stabilize his party before he made way for Erich Mende from North Rhine-Westphalia in 1960. With Mende as party leader the FDP went into the 1961 federal election with the promise of ending Konrad Adenauer's leadership and gained 12.8 percent nationwide, the best result until then. After the election, however, the FDP again formed a coalition with Adenauer's CDU on the condition that he would retire as chancellor after two years. These events led to the FDP being nicknamed the ("pushover party"). In the 1962 Spiegel affair, the FDP temporarily withdrew their ministers from the federal government forcing Defence Minister Franz-Josef Strauß to resign. In accordance with his agreement with the FDP, Adenauer resigned from his chancellorship in October 1963, making place for Ludwig Erhard who appointed FDP leader Erich Mende as Vice Chancellor and Minister of All-German Affairs.
Only one of the smaller post-war parties, the FDP survived despite many problems. In the 1957 federal elections they still reached 7.7 percent of the vote and held 41 of. 497 seats in the Bundestag. However, they still remained in opposition because the Union won an absolute majority. At the federal party meeting in Berlin at the end of January 1957, Thomas Dehler was replaced as party chairman by another liberal democrat from South Germany, Reinhold Maier, who was able to stabilize his party before he made way for Erich Mende from North Rhine-Westphalia in 1960. With Mende as party leader the FDP went into the 1961 federal election with the promise of ending Konrad Adenauer's leadership and gained 12.8 percent nationwide, the best result until then. After the election, however, the FDP again formed a coalition with Adenauer's CDU on the condition that he would retire as chancellor after two years. These events led to the FDP being nicknamed the ("pushover party"). In the 1962 Spiegel affair, the FDP temporarily withdrew their ministers from the federal government forcing Defence Minister Franz-Josef Strauß to resign. In accordance with his agreement with the FDP, Adenauer resigned from his chancellorship in October 1963, making place for Ludwig Erhard who appointed FDP leader Erich Mende as Vice Chancellor and Minister of All-German Affairs