American Political Influence on Italy After World War II.

    At the beginning of the 20th century, Italy was in a deep crisis. The unification of its territory was late, the wars had lasted between 1859 and 1870, but the political and social problems were not yet over: the Roman papacy refused to submit to the king of Italy; the various regions, historically different, refused to speak Italian, preferring the local dialects (Encyclopedia Britannica)

    In June 1944, the United States took Rome. A few days later, the Partigiani launched attacks on Nazi troops. On April 27, 1945, Mussolini and his lover Clara Petacci, who were trying to flee to Switzerland, were captured by the Partigiani. Quickly tried, they were executed and their bodies exposed in Piazzale Loreto, Milan (Encyclopedia Britannica).

(Adolf Hitler on the left, and Benito Mussolini on the right)

    On May 2, 1945, the Nazis surrendered in Italy. Thus ended the long fascist dictatorship over the Italian people. With the end of the war and Italy and the US strengthened their relationship since it was in the interest of the US that Italy stayed on there since Italy had the largest socialist party outside the Soviet Union (Dosa). The United States did not determine policies in Italy, but it has exercised substantial influence on Italian domestic politics through its political, economic, and military linkages with Italy. The focus of the united states during the postwar period focused on keeping the Left-the Socialist (PSI) and Communist (PCI) parties -from playing a role in government (Platt, 197)

Endorsement and support for Christian Democratic Party:

    Starting in 1948 the US invested large sums of money towards economic aid and military assistance in order to reduce the power of the communist party which was the largest one in Europe outside the Soviet Union. The money went towards strengthening the center coalition lead by the Christian Democrats (DC) (Landa, 2017). The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has acknowledged donating $ 1 million to Italian centrist parties for the 1948 elections. The CIA also published counterfeit letters to discredit the leaders of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). 

(Christian democrats – DC)

Support for specific Candidates:

    In January 1947 the United States invited the leader of the Christian Democratic Party and Prime Minister De Gasperi, to Washington to receive first-hand information about economic progress in Italy and the seriousness of the Left. Italians say these talks promised to be of both real and symbolic value, real in that they would likely lead to increased U.S. economic assistance, and symbolic in that the talks signified acceptance of post-fascist Italy by the major Western power. Soon after these meeting, De Gasperi removed all Communists and Socialists from his Cabinet (Platt, 198)

 

(Alcide De Gasperi)

First Elections Held:

    The legislative elections in Italy in 1946 were held on 2 June and served to elect 556 deputies to the Constituent Assembly. On the same day, a referendum was held on which regime would endure in Italy: republic or monarchy. These were the first elections held after the fall of fascism in Italy and the end of World War II. The election results confirmed the strength of the three main Italian parties: Christian Democracy, with 35.2% of the votes; Italian Socialist Party, which obtained 20.7% of the votes and Italian Communist Party, which stood at 18.9% of the votes. In the institutional referendum of 1947, the monarchy was abolished, with the victory of the Republic with 54.3% of the votes (Harper, 22).

In the 1948 election campaign, the United States significantly intervened politically in Italian internal affairs. At this point, the US  viewed Italy as a crucial battleground between the United States and the Soviet Union. The election transcended national boundaries and it was essential to U.S. interests that the Christian Democrats emerge victorious in the electoral campaign (Platt, 201).

Conclusion:

    The United States has played a significant role in strengthening political parties and individuals in Italy. This was done by giving financial support to political parties or sometimes candidates that shared common ideologies and principles with the United States. The support given by the US was always followed by interests such as geographical position for possible battles during the cold war, and even just to avoid the country’s alignment with the Soviet Union. It is correct to say that these financial incentives were beneficial to certain political parties and to the countries since it helped them to rebuild after World War II.