Most historians associate Germany’s transition in 1930 to government by presidential emergency decrees based on Article 48 of the Weimar constitution with authoritarian conservatism, and there certainly were powerful conservative forces that advocated government by decree to cripple the power of the democratically elected Reichstag. Most leaders of Germany’s two liberal parties also concluded by 1929, however, that parliamentary government suffered from paralysis, because each party had become dedicated to serving particular interest groups rather than the common good. They had anchored strong powers for the president in the constitution in 1919, urged Friedrich Ebert to make full use of those powers in 1923, and sought good relations with President Hindenburg after his election in 1925 and enhancement of his popularity. They hoped in 1929/30 that Hindenburg could make full use of his constitutional prerogatives and his great popularity as a war hero to influence the quarrelsome Reichstag delegations to seek reasonable compromises, and if necessary to appeal to the electorate in alliance with the chancellor he trusted to support moderate policies. These liberals influenced Hindenburg in 1929/30 both directly and indirectly through two of his closest advisers, Defense Minister Wilhelm Groener and State Secretary Otto Meissner. The utter collapse of the liberal parties at the polls from 1930 to 1932 deprived these liberals of influence, however, and left the authoritarian conservative concept of presidential government largely unchallenged within Hindenburg’s inner circle. It would be a great mistake nevertheless to believe that everyone who supported the idea of a “Hindenburg cabinet” in 1929/30 advocated something resembling the harshly antidemocratic practice of the Papen cabinet in 1932.

中文翻译：

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德国自由主义与魏玛共和国总统政府的起源

大多数历史学家将德国在 1930 年通过基于魏玛宪法第 48 条的总统紧急法令过渡到政府与威权保守主义联系起来，当然也有强大的保守势力主张通过法令来削弱民主选举产生的国会的权力。然而，德国两个自由党的大多数领导人也在 1929 年得出结论，议会政府陷入瘫痪，因为每个政党都致力于为特定的利益集团服务，而不是为公共利益服务。1919年，他们在宪法中巩固了总统的强大权力，敦促弗里德里希·埃伯特在1923年充分利用这些权力，并于1925年选举后与汉登堡总统寻求良好的关系，并加强了他的受欢迎程度。他们希望在 1929/30 年，兴登堡能够充分利用他的宪法特权和他作为战争英雄的巨大声望来影响争吵不休的国会代表团寻求合理的妥协，并在必要时与他信任的总理结盟呼吁选民支持温和的政策。这些自由主义者在 1929/30 年通过他的两个最亲密的顾问，国防部长威廉格罗纳和国务秘书奥托迈斯纳直接和间接地影响了兴登堡。然而，自由党在 1930 年至 1932 年的民意调查中彻底垮台，剥夺了这些自由党的影响力，并使总统政府的威权保守概念在兴登堡的核心圈子内基本上没有受到挑战。