Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni | |||||||||||||||||||||
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President of Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||
In office 11 May 1962 – 6 December 1964 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Amintore Fanfani Giovanni Leone Aldo Moro | ||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Giovanni Gronchi | ||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Giuseppe Saragat | ||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister of Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||
In office 16 February 1959 – 26 March 1960 | |||||||||||||||||||||
President | Giovanni Gronchi | ||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Amintore Fanfani | ||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Fernando Tambroni | ||||||||||||||||||||
In office 6 July 1955 – 20 May 1957 | |||||||||||||||||||||
President | Giovanni Gronchi | ||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Giuseppe Saragat | ||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Mario Scelba | ||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Adone Zoli | ||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy Prime Minister of Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||
In office 2 July 1958 – 16 February 1959 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Amintore Fanfani | ||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Giuseppe Pella | ||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Attilio Piccioni | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Sassari, Kingdom of Italy | 2 February 1891||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 1 December 1972 Rome, Italy | (aged 81)||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | PPI (1919–1926) DC (1943–1972) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Laura Carta Camprino
(m. 1921) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 4 (including Mario) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Awards | Charlemagne Prize | ||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||||||||||
Antonio Segni (Italian pronunciation:
A member of the Christian Democracy party, Segni held numerous prominent offices in Italy's post-war period, serving as the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defence, Agriculture, and Public Education. He was the first Sardinian to become head of state and government. He was also the second shortest-serving president in the history of the Republic and the first to resign from office due to illness.[2]
Early life
Segni was born in
In 1913, Segni graduated with merit at the University of Sassari, with the thesis Il vadimonium on civil procedure in Roman law.[4] He completed his studies in Rome with Giuseppe Chiovenda, of which he became the favorite student; in the law firm of the jurist, he met Piero Calamandrei, with whom he built a close friendship that would last a lifetime.[5]
When the World War I broke out, Segni was enlisted as an artillery officer. Discharged, after some months, he continued his profession as lawyer, specializing in civil procedure. In 1920, he started his academic career as law professor at the University of Perugia. In 1921, he married Laura Carta Caprino, daughter of a rich landowner,[6] with whom he had four children,[7] including Mario, who would become a prominent politician during the early 1990s.[8][9]
During these years, Segni started his involvement in politics. In 1919, he joined the
Early political career
In 1943, after the fall of Mussolini's Fascist regime, Segni was one of the founders of Christian Democracy (DC), the heir of the PPI.[13] On 12 December 1944, he was appointed Undersecretary to the Ministry of Agriculture in the second Bonomi government.[14]
Minister of Agriculture
In the
The land reform, approved by the Italian Parliament in October 1950, was financed in part by the funds of the Marshall Plan launched by the United States in 1947 and considered by some scholars as the most important reform of the entire post-war period.[18] Segni's reform proposed, through forced expropriation, the distribution of land to agricultural labourers, thus making them small entrepreneurs and no longer subject to the large landowner.[19] If in some ways the reform had this beneficial result, for others it significantly reduced the size of farms, effectively removing any possibility of transforming them into advanced businesses. This negative element was mitigated and in some cases eliminated by forms of cooperatives.[20]
Segni, who was a landowner, ordered the expropriation of most of his own estate in Sardinia.[21] He became known as a "white Bolshevik" for his agrarian reforms.[22] Modern historians assert that landowners were instead favoured by Segni, and his decrees allowed them to reclaim land that had been granted to the peasantry by the preceding administration.[23]
Minister of Public Education
In July 1951, after a cabinet reshuffle, Segni left his office as Minister of Agriculture and was appointed the
As minister, Segni was particularly involved in the fight against
The
The campaign of the opposition to the electoral law achieved its goal, as the government coalition won 49.9% of national vote, just a few thousand votes of the threshold for a supermajority, resulting in an ordinary proportional distribution of the seats. Technically, the government won the election, winning a clear working majority of seats in both houses. In July 1953, Segni was ousted from office in the newly formed government of Alcide De Gasperi.[28] Frustration with the failure to win a supermajority caused significant tensions in the leading coalition, and De Gasperi was forced to resign by the Italian Parliament on 2 August.[29] On 17 August, Italian president Luigi Einaudi appointed Pella as new prime minister, who selected Segni as his Minister of Public Education.[30] Pella remained in power only for five months.[31][32] In the successive governments of Amintore Fanfani and Mario Scelba, Segni was not appointed in any office.[33]
Prime Minister of Italy
In the 1955 Italian presidential election held on 28–29 April of that year, Giovanni Gronchi was elected the new president of the Republic.[34] After the election, a political crisis between prime minister Scelba and DC's leader Fanfani broke out.[35] In July 1955, Scelba resigned from the office, and Segni received the task of forming a new cabinet.[36] He started consultations with parties to explore the possibilities of forming a new coalition government, obtaining the approval of DC, Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) and Italian Liberal Party (PLI), and the external support from the Italian Republican Party (PRI). On 6 July, Segni sworn in as the new prime minister. On 18 July, the government's program was approved by the Chamber of Deputies with 293 votes in favour and 265 against. On 22 July, the Senate of the Republic approved the confidence vote with 121 votes in favour and 100 against.[37]
First government
Segni had always been a strong supporter of
During his premiership, Segni often had conflict with Fanfani, who believed that the government should have a more critical attitude towards the Anglo-French choices. Moreover, the brutal Soviet repression of the
In domestic policy, Segni's government was particularly active in judiciary policies. A law established the
After the premiership
In July 1958, Zoli resigned, after having lost his majority in the Italian Parliament, and Fanfani became the prime minister again. Segni was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and the country's Minister of Defence.[48]
As minister, Segni worked to represent the interests of the
In January 1959, a conspicuous group of Christian Democrats started voting against their own government, forcing Fanfani to resign on 26 January 1959 after six months in power.[51]
Second government
In February 1959, Gronchi gave Segni the task of forming a new cabinet, and he officially sworn in as the new prime minister on 16 February.[52] Segni formed a one-party government, which was composed only by DC members, and was externally supported by minor centre-right and right-wing parties, as well as the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).[53]
Segni attempted to strengthen Atlantic solidarity and to present Italy as Europe's most reliable ally of the United States. He also tried to represent the reassuring alternative to Fanfani's resourcefulness, advocating for Atlanticism in a season characterized by openings to the left, which was supported by Fanfani. The most comforting signals came from the economy, as industry and commerce expanded, unemployment declined, and Italy's GDP grew by over 6%, a rhythm that placed it among the most dynamic countries in the world.[54]
In social policy, various reforms in social welfare were carried out. A law of 21 March 1959 extended insurance against occupational diseases to agricultural workers, while a law approved on 17 May 1959 introduced a special additional indemnity for retired civil servants. Another important law, dated 4 July 1959, extended pension insurance to all artisans.[55]
In March 1960, the PLI withdrew its support to his government and Segni was forced to resign. After few months of Fernando Tambroni's government, Fanfani returned to the premiership on 26 July, this time with an openly centre-left program supported by the PSI abstention, and Segni was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.[56] In August 1961, Segni and Fanfani made an historic trip to Moscow to meet the Soviet leaders.[57]
President of Italy
In May 1962, when Gronchi's term as
After several ballots, Segni was finally elected president on 6 May 1962 with 51% of the votes, 443 votes on a total 854 electors.[60][61] His election was allowed thanks to the votes of monarchist and neo-fascist representatives.[62] It was the first time that DC's official candidate succeeded in being elected president of the Republic.[63]
Many influent entities, notably including the Bank of Italy, the Armed Forces, Vatican hierarchies, as well as economic and financial world, were concerned about the entry of the PSI into the government, and considered Segni a reference of stability and their most prominent political landmark. His power grew further in the aftermath of the 1963 Italian general election, which was characterized by a loss for the DC due to its new leftist policies.[64] Despite Segni's opposition, at the end of the year, Moro and the PSI secretary Pietro Nenni launched their first centre-left government, ruling the country for more than four years.[65]
Vajont Dam disaster
As president, Segni had to face one of the most tragic events in Italian republican history, namely the Vajont Dam disaster.[66] On 9 October 1963, a landslide occurred on Monte Toc, in the province of Pordenone. The landslide caused a megatsunami in the artificial lake in which 50 million cubic metres of water overtopped the dam in a wave of 250 metres (820 ft), leading to the complete destruction of several villages and towns, and 1,917 deaths.[67] In the previous months, the Adriatic Society of Electricity (SADE) and the Italian government, which both owned the dam, dismissed evidence and concealed reports describing the geological instability of Monte Toc on the southern side of the basin and other early warning signs reported prior to the disaster.[68]
On the following day, Segni visited the affected areas, promising justice for the victims.[69] Immediately after the disaster, both the government and local authorities insisted on attributing the tragedy to an unexpected and unavoidable natural event. Despite these statements, numerous warnings, signs of danger, and negative appraisals had been disregarded in the previous months and the eventual attempt to safely control the landslide into the lake by lowering its level came when the landslide was almost imminent and was too late to prevent it.[70] The communist newspaper l'Unità was the first to denounce the actions of management and government.[71] The DC accused the PCI of political profiteering from the tragedy and then-prime minister Giovanni Leone promised to bring justice to the people killed in the disaster. A few months after the end of his premiership, he became the head of SADE's team of lawyers, who significantly reduced the amount of compensation for the survivors and ruled out payment for at least 600 victims.[72]
1964 coalition crisis
On 25 June 1964, the government of
On 16 July, Segni sent the Carabinieri General Giovanni De Lorenzo to a meeting of representatives of the DC, to deliver a message in case the negotiations around the formation of a new centre-left government would fail. According to some historians, De Lorenzo reported that Segni was ready to give a subsequent mandate to Cesare Merzagora, the president of the Senate, asking him of forming a president's government composed by all the conservative forces in the Italian Parliament.[74][75] Ultimately, Moro managed to form another centre-left majority. During the negotiations, Nenni had accepted the downsizing of his reform programs. On 17 July, Moro went to the Quirinal Palace, with the acceptance of the assignment and the list of ministers of his second government.[76]
Illness and resignation
On 7 August 1964, during a meeting at the Quirinal Palace with Moro and Saragat, Segni suffered a serious
Death and legacy
On 1 December 1972, Segni died in Rome at the age of 81.[81]
During all his political career, Segni acted as a moderate conservative, staunchly opposing the "opening to the left" proposed by Fanfani and Moro, but he also tried not to bring his own party too far to the right.[82] He was the first Italian president to resign from office.[83]
The frail, often ailing Segni, was affectionately called il malato di ferro, which literally means "the iron invalid".[84] Time once quoted a friend of his: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time."[63]
Controversies
During his presidency, Segni was particularly influenced by General Giovanni De Lorenzo, commander of the Carabinieri, a former partisan with monarchical ideals. On 25 March 1964, De Lorenzo met with Carabinieri's commanders of the divisions of Milan, Rome, and Naples, proposing a response to a hypothetical national crisis, known as Piano Solo.[85] The plan consisted of a set of measures to occupy certain institutions, such as Quirinal Palace in Rome, and essential media infrastructures, like television and radio, as well as the neutralisation of communist and socialist parties, with the deportation of hundreds of left-wing politicians to a secret military base in Sardinia.[86] The list of people to be deported also included intellectuals, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini.[87]
On 10 May, De Lorenzo presented his plan to Segni, who was particularly impressed by it. Journalists Giorgio Galli and Indro Montanelli believed that Segni did not really want to carry out a coup d'état, but that he wanted to use the plan like a threat for political purposes.[88][89] The coup plans were revealed in 1967, when the journalists Eugenio Scalfari and Lino Jannuzzi published the plan in the Italian news magazine L'Espresso in May 1967.[90] The results of the official investigation remained classified until the early 1990s. It was released by premier Giulio Andreotti to the parliamentary investigation into Operation Gladio. L'Espresso mentioned that some 20,000 Carabinieri were supposed to be deployed around the country, with more than 5,000 agents in Rome.[91] Segni was never investigated for this fact.[92]
Electoral history
Election | House | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1924 | Chamber of Deputies | Sardinia | PPI | — | Not elected | |
1946 | Constituent Assembly | Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro | DC | 40,394 | Elected | |
1948 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro | DC | 61,168 | Elected | |
1953 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro | DC | 77,306 | Elected | |
1958 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro | DC | 107,054 | Elected |
Presidential elections
1962 presidential election (9th ballot) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Supported by | Votes | % | |
Antonio Segni | DC, MSI, PDIUM | 443 | 51.9 | |
Giuseppe Saragat | PSDI, PSI, PCI, PRI | 334 | 39.1 | |
Others / Invalid votes | 77 | 9.0 | ||
Total | 854 | 100.0 |
See also
References
- ISBN 9788849274608.
- ^ Dimissioni del Presidente della Repubblica, Panorama
- ^ Antonio Segni, Dizionario Biografico, Enciclopedia Treccani
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4616-7202-9.
- ^ Antonio Segni, un europeista al Quirinale, La Nuova Sardegna
- ^ Laura Carta Caprino, Getty
- ^ "Accademia sarda di storia di cultura e di lingua » Blog Archive » Protagoniste del caritatismo cattolico sassarese (1856–1970) a cura di Angelino Tedde" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ Mariotto Segni, Enciclopedia Treccani
- ^ "Celestino Segni". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-299-14874-4.
- ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ^ La Biografia del Presidente Segni, quirinale.it
- ISBN 978-0-415-18188-4. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ Governo Bonomi II, governo.it
- ^ Elezioni del 1946: Collegio di Cagliari–Sassari–Nuoro, Ministero dell'Interno
- ^ Governo De Gasperi II, governo.it
- ^ La Riforma Agraria, Occupazione delle Terre
- ^ Corrado Barberis, Teoria e storia della riforma agraria, Florence, Vallecchi, 1957
- ^ Riforma agraria e modernizzazione rurale in Italia nel ventesimo secolo
- ^ Alcide De Gasperi tra riforma agraria e guerra fredda (1948–1950)
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ Il colle più alto
- ISBN 1-4039-6153-0
- ^ VII Governo De Gasperi, camera.it
- ^ Antonio Segni, Salvatore Mura, il Mulino
- ^ Educazione, laicità e democrazia, Antonio Santoni
- ^ Also its parliamentarian exam had a disruptive effect: "Among the iron pots of political forces that faced in the Cold War, Senate cracked as earthenware pot": Buonomo, Giampiero (2014). "Come il Senato si scoprì vaso di coccio". L'Ago e Il Filo. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Governo De Gasperi VIII, camera.it
- ^ (in Italian) Come il Senato si scoprì vaso di coccio, in L’Ago e il filo, 2014
- ^ Mattarella cita Einaudi e l'incarico a Pella: fu il primo governo del presidente
- ^ Governo Pella, Governo.it
- ^ Cattolico e risorgimentale, Pella e il caso di Trieste
- ^ Composizione del Governo Scelba, senato.it
- ^ "Danger on the Left"[permanent dead link], Time, 9 May 1955
- ^ "Segni Hopeful of Breaking Up Crisis in Italy". 1 July 1955. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ^ Governo Segni I, governo.it
- ^ Il governo Segni I
- ^ I primi passi della Presidenza Gronchi ed il governo Segni
- ^ 60 anni dell'Italia all'ONU, Ministero degli Esteri
- ^ Cosa sono i Trattati di Roma e perché sono importanti, il Post
- ^ Trattati di Roma: cosa sono e perché sono stati celebrati, il Post
- ^ Italia e mondo tedesco all'epoca di Adenauer
- ^ La crisi di Suez e la fine del primato dell’Europa
- ^ Diario (1956–1964), S. Mura, 2012, page 101)
- ^ I primi due anni di funzionamento della Corte Costituzionale Italiana
- ^ I Governo Segni, camera.it
- ^ Governo Zoli, camera.it
- ^ Governo Fanfani II, senato.it
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ L’Italia nella guerra fredda e i missili americani IRBM Jupiter, Debora Sorrenti
- ^ Italy's Fanfan, Time, 16 June 1961
- ^ II Governo Segni, Della Repubblica
- ^ L'anima nera della Repubblica: storia del MSI
- ^ Il miracolo economico italiano, Enciclopedia Treccani
- ^ Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II Volume 4 edited by Peter Flora
- ^ III Legislatura: 12 giugno 1958 – 15 maggio 1963
- ^ Fanfani e Segni al ritorno da Mosca, Archivio Luce
- ^ Corsa al Colle: L'elezione di Antonio Segni (1962), Panorama
- ^ Tutti i presidenti della Repubblica Italiana, la Repubblica
- ^ L'elezione del Presidente Segni, quirinale.it
- ^ Elezione a Presidente della Repubblica di Antonio Segni, camera.it
- ^ La Repubblica italiana ha il suo terzo presidente
- ^ ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ Elezioni del 1963, Ministero dell'Interno
- ^ I Governo Moro, governo.it
- ^ Il 9 settembre 1963 il disastro del Vajont: commemorazioni in tutta la regione, Friuli Venezia Giulia
- ^ "Vaiont Dam photos and virtual field trip". University of Wisconsin. Archived from the original on 29 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
- ^ La cronaca del disastro e il processo, ANSA
- ^ Mauro Corona: «Una mano assassina lanciò il sasso che distrusse la mia Erto», Il Gazzettino
- ^ La tragedia del Vajont Archived 9 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Rai Scuola
- ^ "Mattolinimusic.com". Mattolinimusic.com. Retrieved 29 October 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Vajont, Due Volte Tragedia". Sopravvissutivajont.org. 9 October 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
- ^ Indro Montanelli, Storia d'Italia Vol. 10, RCS Quotidiani, Milan, 2004, page 379-380.
- ^ Gianni Flamini, L'Italia dei colpi di Stato, Newton Compton Editori, Rome, page 82.
- ^ Sergio Romano, Cesare Merzagora: uno statista contro I partiti, in: Corriere della Sera, 14 marzo 2005.
- ^ Governo Moro II, governo.it
- ^ Segni, uomo solo tra sciabole e golpisti, Il Fatto Quotidiano
- ^ Merzagora e Fanfani, supplenti del passato
- ^ Il 6 dicembre 1964, Antonio Segni si dimette da presidente della Repubblica, L'Unione Sarda
- ^ Giuseppe Saragat – Storia della Camera, camera.it
- ^ Antonio Segni – Portale storico della Presidenza della Repubblica, quirinale.it
- ^ Tra Segni e Moro braccio di ferro per la supremazia, La Nuova Sardegna
- ^ Dimissioni di Segni e Leone. I precedenti, la Repubblica
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ISBN 9780226504575.
- ^ Gianni Flamini, L'Italia dei colpi di Stato, Newton Compton Editori, Rome, page 79
- ^ Solo, Mister d'Italia
- ^ Giorgio Galli, Affari di Stato, Edizioni Kaos, Milan, 1991, page 94
- ^ Antonio Segni e il Piano Solo: una storia da riscrivere
- ^ Cento Bull, Italian Neofascism, p. 4
- ^ "Twenty-Six Years Later, Details of Planned Rightist Coup Emerge". Associated Press. 5 January 1991.
- ^ Il Piano Solo? Non fu un golpe, Avvenire
- Marcus, George E. (1999). ‘'Paranoia Within Reason: A Casebook on Conspiracy as Explanation'’, Chicago: University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-50457-3
External links
- President Antonio Segni, Italian Chamber of Deputies
- Political factors related to the illness of Italian President Antonio Segni, declassified CIA document dated 14 August 1964
- Newspaper clippings about Antonio Segni in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW