THE WHITE HOUSE: THE DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION ROOM
Lester Pearson, the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, sat patiently as he waited for the President. White was running ten minutes late. Pearson had been summoned to the White House for a personal meeting with the President. While Pearson had met White at a few diplomatic functions before, he had never personally had a one on one meeting with him. The White House had sent a terse memorandum to the Canadian Embassy demanding Pearson come see the President, with no details regarding the subject of the meeting. Pearson felt that something was amiss, but did not dwell on his suspicions. He instead chose to admire the paintings of the ships which adorned the Diplomatic Reception Room’s wallpaper.
Finally, a door opened and the President walked into the room. Pearson rose from his seat and presented his hand to the President. The President did not shake his hand- he stared past Pearson’s shoulder and did not make eye contact with the Ambassador. White’s face had a sour frown. “Do you know why you’re here?” asked the President.
“No?”
“It has come to our attention that your government is spying on me. Canadian intelligence is monitoring my personal communications- your boys have been wiretapping our telephones, in particular my personal telephone number. This is an outrageous and hostile act by your government against the United States, and a betrayal of all the diplomatic agreements between our countries. I understand your government carried out some covert operations lobbying for American entry into the war before Pearl Harbor- that perhaps is forgivable. This wiretapping is duplicitous and unforgivable. We helped build each other’s intelligence capabilities during the war- and now you turn these capabilities against us! Outrageous! I understand there are some wild rumors about my administration out there. Perhaps Mr. King has received some advice from certain unreliable sources. That is no excuse for this perfidy. Wiretapping my telephone calls- that is not just an insult against me, but an encroachment on the sovereignty of the United States. I will not- we will not tolerate this.”
Pearson paused. “I can’t say I’m aware of any directive by Prime Minister King to spy upon your personal communications. Our intelligence agents routinely gather information from all sources for diplomatic and political purposes. Perhaps your government mistook this for something else?”
“I’m damn sure. The Attorney General gave me the proof.” White waved a stack of papers in the Ambassador’s face. “I understand this is the personal project of a Mr. William Stephenson. But surely he wouldn’t be wiretapping a foreign head of state without orders of the Prime Minister? This is our demand- end all wiretapping and intelligence operations in the United States. Furthermore, we demand that Mr. Stephenson be removed from his post- in fact remove him from government altogether. If you do not meet our demands, we will go public with the details of your little spying operation.”
“The Prime Minister retains the sole authority to make appointments as he sees fit- that is an internal affair of Canada. However, I will relay your request to the Prime Minister- I am sure that he will limit our intelligence gathering to avoid any perceived infringement upon American sovereignty. We do not wish for a diplomatic incident between our countries.”
ARMY FINANCE CENTER, ST. LOUIS
“Bob, I’m going to need you to check out these papers sent from Washington, real quick,” said Irving Gilbert.
Gilbert was a short, brown haired accountant who wore rimmed glasses. Gilbert historically was quiet, not very confrontational. Gilbert had not raised his voice since boyhood, and shied away from social interaction outside of work. But today, Gilbert felt a feeling he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in a long time- anger.
“What seems to be the problem, Irving?”
“These numbers- they don’t make any sense. Tens of millions of dollars are being redirected to these projects- they’re really vague about what the money is going towards. All of this is going towards this mysterious project account- the Bureau of Special Operations. This Bureau is a money pit, but I can’t find any information about it.”
“Haven’t you learned not to ask any questions?” asked Bob. “The Army has all sorts of projects which are classified. They have to send the funding documents through accounting as a formality, but anyone not directly involved in these projects- that means us- isn’t supposed to know the details. You’ve been here long enough to know we occasionally play around with the numbers a bit. You’re not working for an insurance company.”
“Yes Bob, I’m aware the Army doesn’t like to share information with regards to national security. But the war is over. Washington is planning on demobilizing the troops. The amount of money they’re moving around- it just doesn’t make any sense. And I’ve never even heard of the Bureau of Special Operations. I’ve searched our files, and there’s no indication as to what it might be- it didn’t exist during the war, and it doesn’t fall anywhere in the War Department organizational charts. It doesn’t exist, as far as I can tell. It doesn’t seem to be a private vendor- although you’ll recall I flagged a few payments to those shady import companies a few weeks ago which were also strangely high. Yes, the Army likes to keep its secrets, but this Bureau of Special Operations- it sounds totally made up. It sounds like it’s some sort of nefarious project or corrupt patronage that was given an important sounding name to stop people from prying too closely into their affairs. There are no names on the documents either- I can’t tell who in the higher ups is authorizing these invoices, just like the invoices to those import companies. So not only do we not know where this money is going to, we don’t know who authorized the payments. But they expect us to rubber stamp this because they know this office doesn’t scrutinize matters of national security. Well I say this is worth raising a fuss about. I have held my tongue for far too long, but there’s something fishy going on around here, and I think we should warn our superiors about it.”
ITALIAN ELECTIONS 1946
In 1946, shortly after the defeat of Italy in the Second World War, Italy held its first open election in decades. There had not been a real election in Italy since Mussolini had seized power- Mussolini had held elections for the Chambers of Deputies, but only the Fascist Party candidates were allowed to appear on the ballot. In addition to the legislative elections, a national referendum was held to decide the fate of the Italian monarchy. Victor Emmanuel III, the King of Italy had discredited the monarchy through his cooperation with the Mussolini dictatorship. Left-wing Republican groups, previously repressed under Mussolini, emerged from the underground to openly advocate for the abolition of the monarchy. Victor Emmanuel III, in a desperate attempt to save the monarchy, abdicated in favor of his son, who was crowned Umberto II. Despite the King’s abdication, the people of Italy nevertheless voted to abolish the monarchy.
The Christian Democrats, the party of incumbent Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, appeared poised to do well in the elections for the newly formed Constituent Assembly. However, De Gasperi found himself the victim of a smear campaign. Umberto II was rumored to be a homosexual, and anti-monarchist campaigners spread these rumors among conservatives to undermine the pro-monarchy vote. The Communists decided to apply these rumors to De Gasperi. Pamphlets were spread across the country alleging that De Gasperi was a homosexual and a pedophile. In Piedmont, Lombardy, and Tyrol, the Communists spread propaganda alleging ties between the Christian Democrats and the Mafia. The Mafia was associated with Southern Italy, for which there was some regional distaste in the Northern regions. De Gasperi noted that the Communist campaign appeared unusually well funded, and their campaign material strangely widespread.
During the general election campaign, the Italian magazine, L’Europeo published an article which was syndicated in newspapers across Italy. The article alleged that during the invasion of Italy, the United States had imported mustard gas into the city of Bari. The gas canisters were held in a naval vessel which was bombed by the Nazis, releasing the gas into the harbour of Bari. Hundreds of Italians living in Bari had reported symptoms consistent with sulfur mustard poisoning, but the United States Army had ordered that the incident be classified. L’Europeo kept their sources anonymous, but indicated that they had received this information from American military documents. Publicly, the U.S Army denied these allegations. In private, however, the Army officials were convinced that their documents had been stolen by Soviet spies, or that Soviet spies were monitoring or wiretapping their communications. The affair was a major blow to the reputation of the United States in Italy. It was unclear why the Americans had imported mustard gas into Italy to begin with, but one popular theory suggested that the United States had intended to use chemical weapons against Italians during the war. The Christian Democrats, who had a generally pro-American orientation, lost popular support as the left-wing parties argued that Italy should instead seek closer relations with the Soviet Union, which had not plotted to carry out atrocities against Italian civilians. While most regions of southern Italy ended up voting for the Christian Democrats, the region of Puglia, of which Bari was the capital, voted for the Communists in part due to the mustard gas scandal.
American-Italian relations were further damaged by the White Administration’s cold attitude towards the Italian government. The State Department accused the Italian Government of harboring former fascists whose changes of heart were less than sincere. The State Department was particularly hostile towards the House of Savoy, which had collaborated with Mussolini. The United States kept occupying troops on Italian soil in the run-up to the elections of July 1946. While the United States was not as harsh towards Italy as was towards Germany- there was no attempt to implement anything similar to the Morgenthau Plan- the United States was not inclined to aid in the reconstruction of a country which it viewed as still too conciliatory towards fascists. The White Administration withheld financial and material aid at a time when Italy faced food shortages and economic crisis. Secretary of State Duggan blocked grain shipments to Italy requested by De Gasperi. De Gasperi’s failure to secure American support for his government further weakened his electoral standing. President White severed relations with the Vatican, withdrawing American envoy Myron Charles Taylor from Rome. White gave multiple reasons for the diplomatic snub of the Pope- Pius XII’s collaboration with the Fascists, the Catholic Church’s alleged failures in rescuing Jews from the Holocaust, as well as comments made by Myron Taylor in the 1930s endorsing the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Taylor’s recall stalled the organization of charity relief funds for the Italians. The recall of Taylor was seen as a capitulation to anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States, hurting America’s reputation among conservative Catholic voters that the pro-American Christian Democrats hoped to appeal to. As in other parts of Europe, President White was the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories spread by Fascists.
One prominent American politician openly intervened in the Italian elections. Vito Marcantonio, an Italian-American congressman who associated with Communist front groups, traveled to Rome in the Spring of 1946 to campaign for the abolition of the Savoy monarchy. Marcantonio’s trip was sponsored by a recently formed Italian-American organization, the League Against Fascism, which was based in New York City. While in Rome, Marcantonio gave a speech in Italian denouncing supporters of the monarchy as Fascists and called for Italy to become an explicitly left-wing republic. Marcantonio met with Palmiro Togliatti and other members of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). The Christian Democrats claimed that Marcantonio delivered a suitcase of cash to Togliatti personally, and that the League Against Fascism was bankrolling the Communist Party of Italy. While Marcantonio probably did not personally deliver money to Togliatti, the League Against Fascism did indeed fund the Communists under the contention they were solely campaigning against the monarchy and not advocating for any particular political party. Nor was the League Against Fascism the only outside group to provide funding for the Communists. Outside funding allowed the Communists to purchase weapons for the Gladio Rossa, the Party’s paramilitary wing.
Despite the obstacles posed to their campaign, the Christian Democrats emerged from the first post-war election in Italy as the largest party in the Constituent Assembly, winning about 170 seats. The Communist Party came in second place, while the Socialist Party under Pietro Nenni came in third. The two left wing parties were thus just barely short of a majority. Minor right-wing and centrist parties won the remaining seats. The Communists had hoped to form an exclusively left-wing coalition government as their sister party had done in France. With the Christian Democrats coming in first place, De Gasperi was returned to the Premiership and formed a coalition government with the Socialists and Communists. (Both parties had participated in De Gasperi’s government before the election.) The underperformance of the Christian Democrats, however, meant that De Gasperi was weakened and was unable to exercise his power without approval from his left-wing coalition partners.
Although De Gasperi believed that the Soviets had funded the PCI’s election campaign to undermine Italy’s fledgling democracy, the immediate threat to the De Gasperi government came from the right. King Umberto II refused to accept the results of the referendum in which the majority of Italians had voted for the abolition of the monarchy and the creation of a Republic. Umberto II, frightened by the Communist takeover of France, claimed that the Communists would repeat their success in Italy. The new French constitution had allowed for Communists to win control of the government; Umberto II reasoned that a new Italian constitution would do the same. Republicanism, warned Umberto II, would inevitably lead to Communism. Only a King could keep Italy from going red. Umberto II traveled to Naples and declared the dissolution of the De Gasperi government, forming a monarchist government in Naples. Napoli and the southern half of Italy had voted to keep the monarchy; Umberto II hoped his government would be more secure in Naples than it had been in Rome. Much of southern Italy appeared posed to accept Umberto II as their monarch and reject De Gasperi’s elected government. The Christian Democrats were further weakened by Umberto II’s attempted usurpation- while the active membership of the Christian Democrats had supported a Republic, much of their vote share came from conservative monarchists living in southern Italy. Umberto II’s rejection of the Republic thus created immediate problems for the Christian Democrats, as many of their voters in the south sided with Umberto II against the Prime Minister they had just elected.
The Communists mobilized Gladio Rossa in defense of the Republic and in preparation for a potential civil war. There were rumors that the southern provinces would secede and that the Italian peninsula would be divided between a northern republic and a southern kingdom. There were Communist mass rallies in Tuscany and Rome protesting against Umberto II. De Gasperi did not want a civil war, but neither could he allow Umberto II’s government in Naples to stand. De Gasperi asked the United States and the United Kingdom to secure the Italian Republic by removing Umberto II from Naples. While the Italians still had an army which had contributed to the defeat of the Nazis after Italy switched from the Axis to the Allies in 1943, De Gasperi did not wish to use the Italian Army against the King. The Italian Army was devastated from years of war. Furthermore, Giovanni Messe, the Marshal of the Italian Army, was a monarchist. De Gasperi feared that Messe would depose him in a pro-monarchist military coup, and ordered that Messe be placed under house arrest. This left De Gasperi unable to rely upon the Army and dependent upon the Americans.
The U.S Army quickly mobilized a unit to occupy Napoli, sending troops to Naples by the end of August 1946. While a few scattered monarchist partisans attacked the Americans, there was no organized resistance to the American military operation. Umberto II fled Naples for Portugal before he could be arrested by the Americans. Umberto II subsequently formed a government in exile, declaring himself the rightful King of Italy. Large crowds in Naples protested the American military occupation and demanded the restoration of the King. Monarchist agitation would continue in Naples against the Republic even after the resolution of the Savoy crisis. De Gasperi was forced to purge the army of monarchists, as a few Italian generals had joined the King’s exile government in Portugal. De Gasperi was compelled by the Socialists and Communists to support the establishment of Republican militias in the north, which came to be dominated by the Gladia Rossa. While civil war had been averted, De Gasperi’s effort to seamlessly transition Italy into a Republic had failed. Throughout 1946 there were scattered extrajudicial killings in Italy, by Communists against fascists and by monarchists in the South against Communists. The political environment in Italy remained volatile and unstable, with renewed political conflict over the horizon.
(Author's Note: There is a paucity of English language sources on De Gasperi and the early development of Italy's post-war democracy. I would have like to have done more research before publishing. The only extensive English language resource I could find is a recently published book which is rather expensive. However, I think the election of an majority left-wing government in 1946 to be improbable- the majority of Italians were opposed to socialism and communism, and the monarchy was abolished by only a narrow margin. I don't think the voters are that elastic. Nor would the Communists at this time risk confrontation with the West by launching a violent revolution. However, post-war Italy is unstable enough that hostile forces could prevent the Christian Democrats from establishing a firm footing as the natural party of Italian government. This allows for Italy to move in several different potential directions.)
