Giuseppe Saragat (; 19 September 1898 – 11 June 1988) was an Italian politician who served as the

president of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

from 1964 to 1971.

Early life

Born to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

n parents, he was a member of the Unitary Socialist Party (''Partito Socialista Unitario''; PSU) from 1922. He moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1926 and to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1929.

Political career

Following the dissolution of the PSU in 1930, Saragat joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892, ...

(''Partito Socialista Italiano''; PSI). He was a

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

who left the PSI in 1947 out of concern over its then-close alliance with the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

. He subsequently founded the Socialist Party of Italian Workers (''Partito Socialista dei Lavoratori Italiani''; PSLI), which in 1952 became the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an im ...

(''Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano''; PSDI). He was to be the paramount leader of the PSDI for the rest of his life.Saragat, Giuseppe: “Dizionario di Storia” – Treccani
(in Italian) Retrieved 20 April 2013. Saragat had been

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in 1944 and ambassador in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1945 to 1946, before his appointment as President of the

Constituent Assembly of Italy The Italian Constituent Assembly (Italian: ''Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana'') was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948. It was tasked with writing a constitution for the Italian ...

that same year. He was

minister of foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

in the first cabinet and second cabinet of Aldo Moro from 1963 to late 1964, when he was chosen as

President of the Italian Republic President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. His election demonstrated a rare instance of unity among the Italian left and followed rumours of a possible neo-fascist coup during

Antonio Segni Antonio Segni (; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the president of Italy from May 1962 to December 1964 and the prime minister of Italy in two distinct terms between 1955 and 1960. A memb ...

's presidency. Saragat is said to have been an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

,Bruno Vespa, ''L'amore e il potere. da Rachele a Veronica, un secolo di storia italiana'', Mondadori, Milano, 2009, p. 120. but after that he became a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and had a religious funeral.From ''Padre Rotondi e la "conversione" di Saragat''

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saragat, Giuseppe 1898 births 1988 deaths Politicians from Turin Italian resistance movement members Italian Socialist Party politicians Presidents of Italy Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy Foreign ministers of Italy Italian life senators Italian anti-fascists Italian Democratic Socialist Party politicians 20th-century Italian politicians University of Turin alumni Politicians of Sardinia Italian prisoners and detainees Italian expatriates in France Italian expatriates in Austria Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Ambassadors of Italy to France Unitary Socialist Party (Italy, 1922) politicians Exiled Italian politicians