Strauss may compromise on foreign minister post

Signs emerged that right-wing leader Franz Josef Strauss may compromise on his desire for the post of West German foreign minister. The leader of the Bavarian wing of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's conservative party had seen the appointment as the price of his party's contribution to Sunday's conservative election triumph. But reports of his willingness to forgo the post and preserve the unity of the center-right coalition government were circulating. If true, this would avert a clash between Mr. Strauss and the other party leader in the coalition, Free Democratic chairman Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who is foreign minister now.