Müller’s government resigns

© fes Hermann Müller, the last social- democratic chancellor until Willy Brandt's assumption of office in 1969

The government of Reich Chancellor Hermann Müller (SPD, 1876-1931) resigns on 27 March 1930. His five-party coalition was unable to reach an agreement on the issue of reforming the Reich’s unemployment insurance system. Two days later Reich President Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) authorises the Centrist politician Heinrich Brüning (1885-1970) to form a new government. In doing that Hindenburg invokes Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution: It grants the Reich President de facto power to govern without the consent of parliament by issuing emergency decrees. Brüning’s appointment as Reich Chancellor begins the phase of “presidential cabinets” in the Weimar Republic. Subsequent governments are certainly able to act independently of the political balance of power in parliament; however, they are by contrast dependent on the consent of the Reich President.