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Antonio Segni

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Antonio Segni
IV
President of the Italian Republic
In office
11 May 1962 – 6 December 1964
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Giovanni Leone
Aldo Moro
Preceded byGiovanni Gronchi
Succeeded byCesare Merzagora acting
Giuseppe Saragat
50th and 47th
President of the Council of Ministers of Italy
In office
15 February 1959 – 23 March 1960
PresidentGiovanni Gronchi
Preceded byAmintore Fanfani
Succeeded byFernando Tambroni
In office
6 July 1955 – 15 May 1957
PresidentGiovanni Gronchi
Preceded byMario Scelba
Succeeded byAdone Zoli
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
25 March 1960 – 7 May 1962
Prime MinisterFernando Tambroni
Amintore Fanfani
Preceded byGiuseppe Pella
Succeeded byAmintore Fanfani
Minister of the Interior
In office
15 February 1959 – 23 March 1960
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFernando Tambroni
Succeeded byGiuseppe Spataro
Minister of Defense
In office
1 July 1958 – 15 February 1959
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Preceded byPaolo Emilio Taviani
Succeeded byGiulio Andreotti
In office
17 August 1953 – 12 January 1954
Prime MinisterGiuseppe Pella
Preceded byGiovanni Bettiol
Succeeded byEgidio Tosato
In office
26 July 1951 – 7 July 1953
Prime MinisterAlcide De Gasperi
Preceded byGuido Gonnella
Succeeded byGiovanni Bettiol
Personal details
Born(1891-02-02)2 February 1891
Sassari, Italy
Died1 December 1972(1972-12-01) (aged 81)
Rome, Italy
Political partyChristian Democracy
SpouseLaura Carta Camprino

Antonio Segni (2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was twice Prime Minister of Italy (1955-1957, 1959-1960), and the President of the Italian Republic from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian: Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy.

Biography

The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in Sassari, Sardinia, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law. Segni joined the Italian People's Party (Template:Lang-it) – the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party – in 1919. In 1924 he was a member of the party’s national council, until all political organizations were dissolved by Benito Mussolini two years later in 1926. For the next 17 years Segni taught Agrarian Law for at the Universities of Pavia, Perugia, and Cagliari; he was also rector of Sassari University.

In 1943 Segni was one of the organizers of the new Christian Democratic Party in Sardinia. He held ministerial positions in many Christian Democrat governments from 1944 onward, despite his frail physique. Time Magazine once quoted a friend: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time."[1] In 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after World War II and then to parliament in 1948.

In Government

Segni made his reputation as Minister of Agriculture (1946-1951) under Alcide de Gasperi. He favoured land reform legislation and ordered the expropriation of most of his own estate in Sardinia.[2] He became known as a “white Bolshevik” for his introduction of agrarian reform.

He became Prime Minster in 1955, succeeding Mario Scelba. During Segni’s government the treaties instituting the European Economic Community (EEC) were signed on March 25, 1957, and Italy joined the community.

In March 1959, he became Prime Minister again, succeeding Amintore Fanfani, in whose government he had been Minister of Defense.[3]

President

Segni was elected President of the Italian Republic on 6 May 1962 (854 to 443 votes).[1] He suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage while working at the presidential palace on 7 August 1964. At the time he was 73 years old and the first prognosis were not positive. He only partially recovered, and he retired from office on 6 December 1964. In the interim, the President of the Senate Cesare Merzagora served as acting president.

Politically, Segni was a moderate conservative opposed to "opening to the centre-left" enabling coalition governments between the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the Christian Democrats. Segni was later accused of having tried to instigate a coup d'état (known as Piano Solo) along with General Giovanni De Lorenzo during his presidency to frustrate the opening to the left.[4]

Segni was also a professor of law at University of Sassari. Straightforward, witty and courteous, Segni was more at ease in the classroom or the law court than in the back rooms of Italian politics.[2] He died on December 1, 1972, in Rome. The frail, often ailing Segni, was affectionately called malato di ferro—"the invalid with the iron constitution".[5]

Segni's son, Mariotto Segni, is also a prominent Italian politician.

References

  1. ^ a b Symbol of the Nation, Time Magazine, May 18, 1962
  2. ^ a b New Man on the Job, Time Magazine, July 18, 1955
  3. ^ Right Turn, Time Magazine, March 2, 1959
  4. ^ Marcus, Paranoia Within Reason, pp. 207-08
  5. ^ Malato di Ferro, Time Magazine, October 2, 1964
  • Marcus, George E. (1999). ‘’Paranoia Within Reason: A Casebook on Conspiracy as Explanation’’, Chicago: University of Chicago Press ISBN 0226504573




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