during the 1950s From 1945 to 1953, he was the prime minister of eight successive DC-led governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for one leader in modern Italian politics. During his successive governments, Italy
became a republic (1946), signed a
peace treaty with the Allies (1947), joined
NATO in 1949 and became an ally of the United States, which helped to revive the Italian economy through the
Marshall Plan. During that time, Italy became a member of the
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which later evolved into the
European Union (EU). Crucial in this regard was the contribution of Defense Minister
Randolfo Pacciardi, a 30th degree Mason of the
Scottish Rite, who had been personally chosen by De Gasperi. In December 1945, he became prime minister for the first time, succeeding
Ferruccio Parri and leading a coalition government that included both
Italian Communist Party (PCI) and
Italian Socialist Party (PSI), along with other minor parties like
Italian Republican Party (PRI),
Italian Liberal Party (PLI) and
Action Party (PdA). Communist leader
Palmiro Togliatti acted as
deputy prime minister. He tried to soften the terms of the pending Allied peace treaty with Italy and secured financial and economic aid through the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) – which was opposed by the Communists. In June 1946, a
constitutional referendum to decide whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic resulted in 54% of the vote favouring a republic. De Gasperi served as
provisional head of state from 12 June 1946 until the
Constituent Assembly elected Liberal politician
Enrico De Nicola provisional head of state on 28 June 1946. As chief of the Italian delegation at the
World War II peace conference in Paris, De Gasperi harshly criticized the sanctions imposed on Italy, but obtained concessions from the Allies that guaranteed Italian sovereignty. Under the
Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947, the eastern border area was lost to
Yugoslavia and the free territory of
Trieste was divided between the two states. One of his most striking achievements in foreign policy was the
Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement with Austria in September 1946, which established his home region,
South Tyrol, as an
autonomous region.
American support De Gasperi enjoyed considerable support in the US, where he was considered able to oppose the rising tide of communism – in particular the
PCI, which was the biggest communist party in a Western European democracy. In January 1947 he visited the US. The chief goals of the trip were to soften the terms of the pending peace treaty with Italy and to obtain immediate economic assistance. His ten-day tour, engineered by media mogul
Henry Luce – the owner of
Time magazine – and his wife,
Clare Boothe Luce – the future ambassador to Rome – was viewed as a media "triumph", prompting positive comments by a wide section of the American press. During his meetings in the United States, De Gasperi managed to secure a financially modest but politically significant US$100 million
Eximbank loan to Italy. According to De Gasperi, public opinion would view the loan as a vote of confidence in the Italian Government and strengthen his position versus the PCI in the context of the emerging Cold War. The positive results strengthened De Gasperi's reputation in Italy. He also came back with useful information on the incipient change in American foreign policy that would lead to the Cold War and in Italy the break with the PCI and left-wing PSI and their removal from the government in the
May 1947 crisis. In May 1947,
United States President Harry Truman ordered De Gasperi to create a new government without the support of communists and socialists; he refused and a new cabinet was formed with the (centrist)
Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) of
Giuseppe Saragat, the PLI of
Luigi Einaudi and the PRI of
Randolfo Pacciardi; the three leaders of the minor parties were appointed deputy prime ministers.
General election in 1948 The
general elections in April 1948 were heavily influenced by the Cold War era confrontation between the
Soviet Union and the United States. After the Soviet-orchestrated
February 1948 Communist coup in
Czechoslovakia, the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that, if the left-wing coalition were to win the elections, the Soviet-funded PCI would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. In the United States, a campaign was launched to prevent a victory of the Communist-dominated
Popular Democratic Front (FDP).
Italian Americans were encouraged to write letters to their relatives in Italy. The popular Italian-American singer
Frank Sinatra made a
Voice of America radio broadcast. The
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funnelled "black bag" contributions to anti-communist candidates with the approval of the
National Security Council and President
Harry S. Truman.
Joseph P. Kennedy and Clare Booth Luce helped to raise US$2 million for the Christian Democracy party.
Time magazine backed the campaign and featured De Gasperi on its 19 April 1948 issue's cover and in its lead story. He would appear on a
Time cover again on 25 May 1953, during the campaign for that year's election, with an extensive biography. The election campaign remains unmatched in verbal aggression and fanaticism in Italy's history on both sides. The election was between two competing visions of the future of Italian society. On the one hand, a Roman Catholic, conservative and capitalist Italy, represented by the governing Christian Democrats of De Gasperi; on the other, a secular, revolutionary and socialist society, represented by the Popular Democratic Front. The Christian Democrat
campaign claimed that in
Communist countries "children send parents to jail", "children are owned by the state", "people eat their own children", and assured voters that disaster would strike Italy if the Left were to take power. Another slogan was, "In the secrecy of the polling booth, God sees you – Stalin doesn't." The PCI were
de facto leading the Popular Democratic Front, and had effectively marginalized the PSI, which eventually suffered because of this in these elections, in terms of parliamentary seats and political power. The Socialists also had been hurt by the secession of a social-democratic faction led by Giuseppe Saragat, which contested the election with the concurrent list of
Socialist Unity. The PCI had difficulties in restraining its more militant members, who, in the period immediately after the war, had engaged in violent acts of reprisals. The areas affected by the violence (the so-called "Red Triangle" of
Emilia, or parts of
Liguria around Genoa and Savona, for instance) had previously seen episodes of brutality committed by the
Fascists during
Benito Mussolini's regime and the
Italian Resistance during the Allies' gradual advance through Italy. The Christian Democrats won a resounding victory with 48.5% of the vote (their best result ever) and strong majorities in both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The Communists received only half of the votes they had in 1946. With absolute majorities in both chambers, De Gasperi could have formed an exclusively Christian Democratic government. Instead, he formed a "
centrist" coalition with the Liberals, Republicans and Social Democrats. De Gasperi formed three
ministries, the second in 1950 after the defection of the Liberals, who hoped for more rightist policies, and the third in 1951 after the defection of the Social Democrats, who hoped for more left-wing policies. He ruled for five more years, helming four additional coalitions. "De Gasperi's policy is patience", according to the foreign news correspondent for
The New York Times,
Anne O'Hare McCormick. "He seems to be feeling his way among the explosive problems he has to deal with, but perhaps this wary mine-detecting method is the stabilising force that holds the country in balance."
Social security reforms In domestic policy, various ministers of De Gasperi's cabinets carried out a number of social security reforms in the areas of rents and social housing, unemployment insurance, and pensions. , 1951 in 1953 In 1952, the party overwhelmingly endorsed his authority over the government and over the party. However, it was also the start of his decline. He came under increasing criticism from the emerging left wing in the party. Their main accusations were that he was too cautious in social and economic reform, that he stifled debate and that he subordinated the party to the interests of government.
1953 general election and decline The
1953 general election was characterised by changes in the electoral law. Even if the general structure remained uncorrupted, the government introduced a
superbonus of two-thirds of seats in the
House for the coalition which would obtain
at-large the
absolute majority of votes. The change was strongly opposed by the opposition parties as well as DC's smaller coalition partners, who had no realistic chance of success under this system. The new law was called the
Scam Law by its detractors, including some dissidents of minor government parties who founded special opposition groups to deny the artificial
landslide to Christian Democracy. The
Holy See actively supported Christian Democracy, declaring that it would be a
mortal sin for a Catholic to vote for the PCI and excommunicating all its supporters. In practice, however, many Communists remained religious: Emilia was known to be an area where people were both religious and communists.
Giovannino Guareschi wrote his novels about
Don Camillo describing a village,
Brescello, whose inhabitants are at the same time loyal to priest Camillo and Communist mayor Peppone, who are fierce rivals. The campaign of the opposition to the "Scam Law" achieved its goal. The government coalition (DC, PSDI, PLI, PRI,
South Tyrolean People's Party and
Sardinian Action Party) won 49.9% of the national vote, just a few thousand votes from the threshold for a supermajority, resulting in an ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Minor dissident parties determined the final result, especially the short-lived
National Democratic Alliance. The leading party Christian Democracy did not repeat the extraordinary result of five years earlier, which had been obtained under special conditions linked to the
Cold War, and lost a lot of votes to the
right, including resurgent fascist politicians, particularly in Southern Italy. Technically, the government won the election, winning a clear working
majority of seats in both houses. However, frustration with the failure to win a supermajority caused significant tensions in the leading coalition. De Gasperi was forced to resign by the
Parliament on 2 August: he consequently retired and died twelve months later. The legislature continued with weak governments, with minor parties refusing institutional responsibilities.
Giuseppe Pella rose to power, but fell after only five months, following heated disputes about the status of the
Free Territory of Trieste which Pella was claiming.
Amintore Fanfani's succeeding first ministry failed to receive a
vote of confidence in Parliament, whilst
Mario Scelba and
Antonio Segni followed with more traditional centrist coalitions supported by Social Democrats and Liberals: under the administration of Scelba, the problem of
Trieste was settled by ceding
Koper/Capodistria to
Yugoslavia. The parliamentary term was seen out by the minority government chaired by
Adone Zoli, finishing a legislature which hugely weakened the office of the Prime Minister, held by six different leaders. In 1954, De Gasperi also had to give up the leadership of the party, when
Amintore Fanfani was appointed new Secretary of the Christian Democracy in June. ==Death and legacy==