Schmidt faces stiff debate at national party congress

West Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) opens a national congress here bitterly divided over NATO plans to station new US nuclear missiles in West Europe next year. Despite the prospect of heated debate over nuclear strategy, unemployment, and how to respond to the growth of a powerful antinuclear peace movement in West Germany, SPD leaders hope the five-day congress will give new momentum to Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's shaky government.