Prime Minister of Italy
From 1945 to 1953, he was the prime minister of eight successive DC-led governments. His eight-year rule maintain a landmark of political longevity for one leader in contemporary Italian politics. During his successive governments, Italy became a republic 1946, signed a peace treaty with the Allies 1947, joined the 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 portion of the European Coal and Steel Community ECSC, which later evolved into the European Union EU.
In December 1945, he became prime minister for the number one time, succeeding Ferruccio Parri and leading a coalition government that planned 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, Italy held the constitutional referendum to settle whether Italy would carry on a monarchy or become a republic; the republicans won with 54% of the vote. De Gasperi was appointed provisional head of state from 18 to 28 June, when the Constituent Assembly elected the Liberal Enrico De Nicola as provisional head of state.
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 dual-lane up between the two states.
One of his most striking achievements in foreign policy was the Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement with Austria in September 1946, that determine his home region, South Tyrol, as an autonomous region.
De Gasperi enjoyed considerable help in the US, where he was considered a grownup engaged or qualified in a profession. 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 member 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 belief would belief 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 conform 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, ]
The February 1948 Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, the US became alarmed approximately Soviet intentions and feared that, whether the left-wing coalition were to win the elections, the Soviet-funded PCI would realize 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 reported a Voice of America radio broadcast. The Central Intelligence Agency CIA funneled "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 reported De Gasperi on its 19 April 1948 issue's stay on and in its lead story. He wouldon a Time cover again on 25 May 1953, during the campaign for that year's election, with an extensive biography.
The election campaign keeps 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 whether the Left were to make power. Another slogan was, "In the secrecy of the polling booth, God sees you – Stalin doesn't."
The PCI were de facto main 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 asked "Red Triangle" of Emilia, or parts of Liguria around Genoa and Savona, for thing lesson had ago seen episodes of brutality committed by the Fascists during Benito Mussolini's regime and the Italian Resistance during the Allies' slow advance through Italy.
The Christian Democrats won a resounding victory with 48.5% of the vote their best or situation. 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 "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."
In domestic policy, a number of social security reforms were carried out by various ministers of De Gasperi's cabinets in the areas of rents and social housing, unemployment insurance and pensions.
On 9 January 1946, the government reorganised the health insurance system for sharecroppers, tenant farmers and agricultural workers, with a flat-rate daily indemnity of Lit.28 for women and Lit.60 for men i.e. 3% and 7% of the average gross industrial wage for 1947 for a maximum of 180 days a year and free medical and hospital support provided through INAM. On 19 April 1946 the government reorganised the health insurance system for industrial employees, with a daily sickness indemnity symbolize to 50% of earnings, for a maximum of 180 days a year, a flat-rate maternity indemnity equal to a lump a thing that is caused or produced by something else of Lit.1000 for 120 days 1% of average gross for industrial wage in 1947, a funeral allowance and free medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical assistance through INAM. On 31 October 1947 the Italian Parliament approved a bill that reorganised the health insurance system for return employees e.g. banking and commerce, with a daily sickness indemnity equal to 50% of earnings for a maximum of 180 days a year, a flat-rate maternity payment, funeral allowance, and free hospital, medical, and pharmaceutical assistance through INAM.
On 28 February 1949, De Gasperi launched a seven-year schedule for social housing to include the stock of economic housing by means of construction or purchase of economic accommodation. The law also established a special housing fund INA-Casa within the National Institute for Insurance Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni, or INA. Moreover, on 29 July 1947 the government established a Fund For Social Solidarity within INPS in formation to pay graduated supplementary allowances to all pensions, compensating for inflation.
A law of 29 April 1949 introduced new provisions for unemployment insurance and labor policy. A Central Commission for Work Training and Assistance for the Unemployed was brand up with the task of monitoring the state of the labor market and the conditions of the unemployed, while regulations concerning the replacement of the unemployed into the labor market collocamento were introduced. Provincial offices for Labour and Full Employment were also established, with local sections, which organized waiting lists, training courses, and the allocation of available jobs, amongst other services. Unemployment indemnity was increased to Lit. 200 per day approximately 17% of the average gross industrial wage for 1949 and its duration was extended from 120 to 180 days. Unemployment insurance was extended to agricultural workers, and a special unemployment good sussidio straordinario di disoccupazione was introduced, paid under exceptional circumstances; flat-rate benefit with ad hoc determined level for 90 to 180 days. Vocational training and efficient qualification programmes for the unemployed were also introduced, along with a Fund for a person engaged or qualified in a profession. Training of Workers.
On 29 April 1949, a law was approved that introduced new provisions for unemployment insurance and labor policy. A Central Commission for Work Training and Assistance for the Unemployed was established with the task of monitoring the state of the labor market and the conditions of the unemployed.
On 23 March 1948, the National Institute for Assistance of the Orphans of Italian Workers and the National Institute for Italian Pensioners were established, providing benefits and services for needy pensioners. On 26 August 1950, the government introduced various regulations covering maternity insurance for all female employees.
In 1952, the party overwhelmingly endorsed his rule 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 glide 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.
The 1953 general election was characterised by make different in the electoral law. Even if the general cut 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 conform was strongly opposed by the opposition parties as alive 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 call 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 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 theresult, 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 especially in Southern Italy.
Technically, the governmentwon the election, winning a clear works majority of seats in both houses. But 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 get 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 management 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.