Alcide De Gasperi
| Alcide De Gasperi | |
| Alcide De Gasperi
| |
44th
President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Temporary head of the Italian State from June 12, 1946 to July 1, 1946 | |
| In office December 10, 1945 – August 2, 1953 | |
| President | Himself Enrico De Nicola Luigi Einaudi |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Ferruccio Parri |
| Succeeded by | Giuseppe Pella |
Minister of Foreign Affairs
| |
| In office December 12, 1944 – October 10, 1946 | |
| Prime Minister | Ivanoe Bonomi Ferruccio Parri Himself |
| Preceded by | Ivanoe Bonomi |
| Succeeded by | Pietro Nenni |
| In office July 26, 1951 – August 2, 1953 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Carlo Sforza |
| Succeeded by | Giuseppe Pella |
Minister of the Interior
| |
| In office July 13, 1946 – January 28, 1947 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Romita |
| Succeeded by | Mario Scelba |
2ndPresident of the European Parliament
| |
| In office 1954 – August 19, 1954 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Henri Spaak |
| Succeeded by | Giuseppe Pella |
| Born | April 3 1881 Trentino, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 19 August 1954 (aged 73) Passo Sella, Italy |
| Political party | Christian Democracy |
| Spouse | Francesca Romani |
| Children | Maria Romana De Gasperi other 3 daughters |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Alcide De Gasperi (3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian statesman and politician. He is considered to be one of the Founding fathers of the European Union, along with the Frenchman Robert Schuman and the German Konrad Adenauer. During World War II he was active in the anti-Fascist resistance movement. He signed the peace treaty between Italy and the [[Allied Powers {World War II}]] in September 1947, then gave moral leadership to the Italian state as it recovered from the war. Serving in the first post-war Cabinet from June 1944, he became Prime Minister December 10 1945 and remained in office for seven years. He was provisional Head of State from June 2 1946 until June 28th, when Enrico De Nicola became the first President of Italy. He did much to shape the post-war Italian state and is credited with leading efforts at reconstruction. Convinced that close ties between the European states would benefit all economically and help to maintain peace, he was a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as what would develop into the European Union and of the Council of Europe. De Gaspari was guided throughout his life by the social and moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, especially encyclical Rerum Novarum.
Biography
De Gasperi was born in Pieve Tesino in Trentino, at that time belonging to Austria-Hungary, now part of the Province of Trento in Italy.
He studied philosophy and literature in Vienna and afterward became a journalist. In 1911 he became a Member of Parliament in the Austrian Reichsrat. His home region was transferred to Italy after the First World War. In 1919 he was one of the founders, with Don Luigi Sturzo, of the Italian Popular Party, or Partito Popolare; starting in 1921 he was an MP for the party. He later became party leader and Secretary-General.
De Gasperi served a 16-month jail sentence as an anti-fascist. After his release in 1931 he worked in the library of the Vatican; there, in 1943, during the Second World War, he organized the establishment of the first (and at the time, illegal) Christian Democracy party, or Democrazia Cristiana, drawing upon the ideology of the Popular Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive Christian Democratic governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for one leader in modern Italian politics.
In 1946, when Italy became a Republic, he was elected Capo Provvisorio dello Stato (Provisional Head of State) Pro-Tempore and Regnante Reggente. He is the only man to have become President of the Council, Republic and Regent.
In 1952 he received the Karlspreis (engl.: International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen), an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace. That same year he vetoed a coalition with former fascists and monarchists for the city of Rome elections advocated by some ecclesiastical circles (the so-called operazione Sturzo); Democrazia Cristiana won, but the governmental block lost some 11%. Subsequently, Pope Pius XII denied him audience, which he accepted as a Catholic but protesting as Italian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. In that famous letter, he wrote to the Pope: «As a christian I accept the humiliation, although I don't know how justify it; but as President of the Council (Prime minister) and Foreign Minister, the dignity and authority which I represent and of whom I cannot deprive myself even in my private relationships, imposes me to express my amazement».
De Gasperi died in Sella di Valsugana, in Trentino. He is buried in the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, a basilica in Rome.
Legacy
The Alcide De Gasperi Foundation was named in his honor. The Foundation describes him as "father of the democratic reconstruction of Italy, advocate of European unity and of peace in security among nations" and aims to promote "strengthen democracy" and to "spread freedom."
There is a Rue Alcide de Gasperi in Luxembourg.
See also
- Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement
- Alcide de Gasperi Building
Bibliography
- Craveri, Piero De Gasperi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2006 ISBN 9788815114181
- Keyserlingk, Robert Wendelin. 1972. Fathers of Europe: patriots of peace. Montreal: Palm Publishers ISBN 9780919366183
- Prati, Giulia. 2006. Italian foreign policy, 1947-1951: Alcide De Gasperi and Carlo Sforza between Atlanticism and Europeanism. Göttingen: V&R Unipress ISBN 9783899713015
- Samuels, Richard J. 2003. Machiavelli's children: leaders and their legacies in Italy and Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press 9780801434921ISBN
- Sassi, Salvatore, and Adolfo Sassi. 2007. Alcide De Gasperi e il periodo asburgico. Saggistica Aracne, 76. Roma: Aracne ISBN 9788854811386
- Venneri, G. 2008. "Man of faith and political commitment: Alcide De Gasperi in the history of Europe." JOURNAL OF MODERN ITALIAN STUDIES. 13 (1): 89-92, ISSN 1354-571X
External links
- Alcide De Gasperi - one of the EU's founding fathers Page from the Italian presidency of the EU showing how Alcide De Gasperi fits into the European Union history.
- Alcide De Gasperi Foundation
- photographs of De Gasperi from the private archive of Mrs Maria Romana De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi burial in San Lorenzo Basilica, Rome
- Monumento Alcide Degasperi Trento.JPG
Monument to Alcide De Gasperi in Trento
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Ivanoe Bonomi |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1944–1946 |
Succeeded by: Pietro Nenni |
| Preceded by: Ferruccio Parri |
Prime Minister of Italy 1945–1953 |
Succeeded by: Giuseppe Pella |
| Preceded by: Giuseppe Romita |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1946–1947 |
Succeeded by: Mario Scelba |
| Preceded by: Carlo Sforza |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1951–1953 |
Succeeded by: Giuseppe Pella |
| Preceded by: Paul Henri Spaak |
President of the European Parliament 1954 |
Succeeded by: Giuseppe Pella |
| Party Political Offices | ||
| Preceded by: none |
Secretary of the Italian Christian Democracy 1944-1946 |
Succeeded by: Attilio Piccioni |
| Preceded by: Guido Gonella |
Secretary of the Italian Christian Democracy 1953-1954 |
Succeeded by: Arnaldo Forlani |
Template:Prime ministers of Italy
Template:Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Template:Secretaries of the Italian Christian Democracy
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vec:Alcide De Gasperi
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