Schmidt strengthened by win of confidence vote

West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's ringing vote of confidence Feb. 5 keeps him firmly in the saddle, at least in the short term.

Monitor correspondent Elizabeth Pond reports Mr. Schmidt called the vote after squabbling in his coalition about an emergency job creation program, and the rebellion in his own Social Democratic Party against new NATO nuclear missiles. With a fresh 44-vote majority, Schmidt claims new authority in both domestic and foreign policies.

This authority, Schmidt says, will convince the allies and the Soviet Union that Bonn has the political will to deploy new NATO missiles in 1983 if there is no mutual East-West agreement on limitations.