Giulio Andreotti

Giulio Andreotti
Official portrait, 1987
Prime Minister of Italy
In office
23 July 1989 – 28 June 1992
PresidentFrancesco Cossiga
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
DeputyClaudio Martelli
Preceded byCiriaco De Mita
Succeeded byGiuliano Amato
In office
30 July 1976 – 5 August 1979
PresidentGiovanni Leone
Sandro Pertini
DeputyUgo La Malfa
Preceded byAldo Moro
Succeeded byFrancesco Cossiga
In office
18 February 1972 – 8 July 1973
PresidentGiovanni Leone
DeputyMario Tanassi
Preceded byEmilio Colombo
Succeeded byMariano Rumor
Ministerial offices
Minister for Cultural Heritage and Environment
In office
13 April 1991 – 28 June 1992
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFerdinando Facchiano
Succeeded byAlberto Ronchey
Minister of State Holdings
In office
26 December 1990 – 28 June 1992
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFranco Piga
Succeeded byGiuseppe Guarino
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
4 August 1983 – 23 July 1989
Prime MinisterBettino Craxi
Amintore Fanfani
Giovanni Goria
Ciriaco De Mita
Preceded byEmilio Colombo
Succeeded byGianni De Michelis
Minister of the Interior
In office
11 May 1978 – 13 June 1978
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byFrancesco Cossiga
Succeeded byVirginio Rognoni
In office
19 January 1954 – 10 February 1954
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Preceded byAmintore Fanfani
Succeeded byMario Scelba
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning
In office
23 November 1974 – 30 July 1976
Prime MinisterAldo Moro
Preceded byAntonio Giolitti
Succeeded byTommaso Morlino
Minister of Defence
In office
15 March 1974 – 23 November 1974
Prime MinisterMariano Rumor
Preceded byMario Tanassi
Succeeded byArnaldo Forlani
In office
16 February 1959 – 24 February 1966
Prime MinisterAntonio Segni
Fernando Tambroni
Amintore Fanfani
Giovanni Leone
Aldo Moro
Preceded byAntonio Segni
Succeeded byRoberto Tremelloni
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Crafts
In office
24 February 1966 – 13 December 1968
Prime MinisterAldo Moro
Giovanni Leone
Preceded byEdgardo Lami Starnuti
Succeeded byMario Tanassi
Minister of Treasury
In office
2 July 1958 – 16 February 1959
Prime MinisterAmintore Fanfani
Preceded byGiuseppe Medici
Succeeded byFernando Tambroni
Minister of Finance
In office
6 July 1955 – 2 July 1958
Prime MinisterAntonio Segni
Adone Zoli
Preceded byRoberto Tremelloni
Succeeded byLuigi Preti
Secretary of the Council of Ministers
In office
1 June 1947 – 19 January 1954
Prime MinisterAlcide De Gasperi
Giuseppe Pella
Preceded byPaolo Cappa
Succeeded byMariano Rumor
Parliamentary offices
Member of the Senate
Life tenure
1 June 1991 – 6 May 2013
Appointed byFrancesco Cossiga
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
8 May 1948 – 31 May 1991
ConstituencyRome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office
25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
ConstituencyRome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone
Personal details
Born(1919-01-14)14 January 1919
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Died6 May 2013(2013-05-06) (aged 94)
Rome, Italy
Political partyChristian Democracy
(1942–1994)
Other political
affiliations
Italian People's Party
(1994–2001)
European Democracy
(2001–2002)
Independent
(2002–2008)
Union of the Centre
(2008–2013)[1]
Spouse
Livia Danese
(m. 1945)
Children4, including Lamberto
Alma materSapienza University of Rome
Profession
  • Politician
  • journalist
  • lawyer
Signature

Giulio Andreotti OMI SMOM OCSG OESSH (US: /ˌɑːndrˈɒti/ AHN-dray-OT-ee;[2] Italian: [ˈdʒuːljo andreˈɔtti]; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992),[3] and was leader of the Christian Democracy party and its right-wing; he was the sixth-longest-serving prime minister since the Italian unification and the second-longest-serving post-war prime minister. Andreotti is widely considered the most powerful and prominent politician of the First Republic.[4][5][6]

Beginning as a protégé of Alcide De Gasperi, Andreotti achieved cabinet rank at a young age and occupied all the major offices of state over the course of a 40-year political career, being seen as a reassuring figure by the civil service, business community, and Vatican. Domestically, he contained inflation following the 1973 oil crisis, founded the National Healthcare Service (Sistema Sanitario Nazionale) and combated terrorism during the Years of Lead. In foreign policy, he guided Italy's European Union integration and established closer relations with the Arab world. Admirers of Andreotti saw him as having mediated political and social contradictions, enabling the transformation of a substantially rural country into the world's fifth-largest economy. Critics said he had done nothing to challenge a system of patronage that had led to pervasive corruption. Andreotti staunchly supported the Vatican and a capitalist structure, and opposed the Italian Communist Party. Following the popular Italian sentiment of the time, he supported the development of a strong European community playing host to neoliberal economics. He was not opposed to the implementation of the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund in building the European economy.[7]

At the height of his statesman career, Andreotti was subjected to criminal prosecutions and charged with colluding with Cosa Nostra. Courts managed to prove that he was undoubtedly linked with them until 1980; however, the case was closed due to past statutes of limitations.[8] The most sensational allegation came from prosecutors in Perugia, who charged him with ordering the murder of a journalist. He was found guilty at a trial, which led to complaints that the justice system had "gone mad". After being acquitted of all charges, in part due to statute-barred limitations,[8] Andreotti remarked: "Apart from the Punic Wars, for which I was too young, I have been blamed for everything that's happened in Italy."[9]

In addition to his prime ministerial posts, Andreotti served in numerous ministerial positions, among them as Minister of the Interior (1954 and 1978), Minister of Finance (1955–1958), Minister of Treasury (1958–1959), Minister of Defence (1959–1966 and 1974), Minister of Budget and Economic Planning (1974–1976), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1983–1989), and was a senator for life from 1991 until his death in 2013.[3] He was also a journalist and author. Andreotti was sometimes called Divo Giulio (from Latin Divus Iulius, "Divine Julius", an epithet of Julius Caesar after his posthumous deification), or simply Il divo.[9]

  1. ^ D'Alia, Gianpiero (14 January 2011). "Greetings, Andreotti always set an example for us". UDC official website (in Italian). Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Andreotti". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Giulio Andreotti (XVII Legislatura), Dati anagrafici e incarichi". Senate of the Republic (Italy) (in Italian). Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sassoon 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Andreotti, the 'Beelzebub' of Italian politics, dies at 94". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  6. ^ Cornwell, Rupert (7 May 2013). "Giulio Andreotti: Politician who dominated the Italian scene for more than half century". The Independent. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  7. ^ Irving, R. E. M. (July 1976). "Italy's Christian Democrats and European Integration". International Affairs. 52 (3): 400–416. doi:10.2307/2616553. JSTOR 2616553.
  8. ^ a b Mascali, Antonella (6 May 2013). "Andreotti morto, il tribunale disse: 'Ebbe rapporti organici con la mafia'". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 4 January 2019. The court recognized him guilty of mafia-related crimes until at least 1980, but there was no proof of his relationship with organized crime after 1980.
  9. ^ a b Ceron, Andrea; Ivernizzi, Giovanna Maria (10 March 2021). "Politics by Denunciation" (PDF). University of Turin. SSRN 3802552. Retrieved 4 February 2022.