Massimo Salvadori, or Max William Salvadori Paleotti (16 June 1908, in London – 6 August 1992) was a British-Italian historian and anti-Fascist. Salvadori was educated at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

and the University of Rome. He was involved in the anti-Fascist movement in Italy before World War II. Imprisoned from 1931-32 as a result of his political activities, Salvadori fled Italy for Switzerland. In 1943 he joined the British army and after participating in landings at Salerno and Anzio, parachuted into Italy to organize resistance. As agent of the British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

, Salvadori played a central role in providing weapons supplies for partisan formations and in pushing the Action Party to cooperate with the Italian Monarchy after the "svolta di Salerno" (1944).Mireno Berrettini (2014): La Resistenza italiana e lo Special Operations Executive britannico (Firenze: Le Lettere) For this service, he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

and

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

. He served on the faculty of Smith College from 1945 until his retirement in 1973, with two notable breaks: in 1948-49 he was director of the Division of Political Science of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in France and in 1952 he worked as a political analyst for the Information Service of the Secretariat of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Publications

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References

1908 births 1992 deaths Italian resistance movement members University of Geneva alumni Smith College faculty 20th-century British historians British emigrants to Italy Italian expatriates in the United States {{Polisci-bio-stub