Virginio Gayda (12 August 1885 – 14 March 1944) was a prominent Italian

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

during

Fascist Italy Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

, led by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

Early life

Gayda was born in Rome, studied economics at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...

and began his career as a journalist when he was hired as a foreign correspondent by ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'' in 1908.

Journalist

Gayda came to prominence as editor of ''

Il Giornale d'Italia ''Il Giornale d'Italia'' is an Italian online newspaper. It was founded in Rome in 1901 by the prestigious liberal politicians Sidney Sonnino and Antonio Salandra, both of which were part of the Liberal Constitutional Party. The original paper c ...

'' during the 1930s and the 1940s. Contemporary reports in the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

press characterised him as a propagandist who was willing to write anything to support

's regime. Dr. Seuss lampooned Gayda by saying, "If you were to ask me, which you haven't, whom I consider the world's most outstanding writer of fantasy, I would, of course, answer: 'I am.' My second choice, however, is Virginio Gayda." However, Gayda twice came into conflict with Mussolini. In the first incident, a 1939 article "''Che farà l'Italia?''" ("What Will Italy Do?") was written when Germany invaded Poland in which Gayda cast doubt on the wisdom of Italy entering the world war on the side of Germany. Mussolini, who planned to join the war, criticised the article strongly. Mussolini raised no public objection when Gayda warned against the likelihood of a swift victory one week after start in June 1941 of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. However, on 17 February 1943, Gayda provoked the second incident by stating in ''Il Giornale d'Italia'' that the Axis powers had difficulties in the war of attrition. Since the Allies were understood to have more industrial power than the Axis, that was seen as a tacit admission of a likely defeat. As a result, Gayda did not appear in ''Il Giornale d'Italia'' again until 23 March. He was replaced as editor of ''Il Giornale d'Italia'' by A. Bergamini after the fall of the fascist regime on 25 July 1943.

Death

He was killed by Allied bombing at home on 14 March 1944, reportedly while he was studying English, "the language of Churchill and Eisenhower", in preparation for the arrival of the Allies.Cesare De Simone, Venti angeli sopra Roma, p. 313. De Simone ipotizza, maliziosamente, che Gayda si preparasse all'imminente arrivo (4 giugno 1944) delle truppe alleate a Roma: « ..probabilmente aveva capito che i tempi stavano rapidamente mutando e aveva deciso di imparare la lingua di Churchill e di Eisenhower». Sullo stesso episodio vedi anche Paolo Monelli,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaydo, Virginio Italian fascists Italian propagandists Italian male journalists 1885 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Italian journalists 20th-century Italian male writers Italian civilians killed in World War II Deaths by American airstrikes during World War II Anti-communist propagandists