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{{Infobox Prime Minister 
| name              =  Alcide De Gasperi
| image             = De_Gasperi.JPG
| order           = Interim <br> [[President of the Italian Republic]]
| term_start	= [[12 June 12]], [[1946]]
| term_end	= [[1 July 1]], [[1946]]
| predecessor	= King [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II]] (as King of Italy)
| successor          = [[Enrico De Nicola]] 
| order2             = 44th <br> [[President of the Council of Ministers of Italy]]
| president2	= [[Enrico De Nicola]] <br> [[Luigi Einaudi]]
| term_start2        = [[10 December 10]], [[1945]] 
| term_end2        = [[2 August 2]], [[1953]]
| predecessor2       = [[Ferruccio Parri]]
| successor2         = [[Giuseppe Pella]]
| order3             = [[Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start3        = [[12 December 12]], [[1944]] 
| term_end3          = [[10 October 10]], [[1946]]
| primeminister3     = [[Ivanoe Bonomi]] <br> [[Ferruccio Parri]] <br> ''Himself''
| predecessor3       = [[Ivanoe Bonomi]]
| successor3         = [[Pietro Nenni]]
| term_start4        = [[26 July 26]], [[1951]] 
| term_end4          = [[2 August 2]], [[1953]]
| primeminister4     = ''Himself''
| predecessor4       = [[Carlo Sforza]]
| successor4         = [[Giuseppe Pella]]
| order5             = [[Italian Minister of the Interior|Minister of the Interior]]
| term_start5        = [[13 July 13]], [[1946]] 
| term_end5          = [[28 January 28]], [[1947]]
| primeminister5     = ''Himself''
| predecessor5       = [[Giuseppe Romita]]
| successor5         = [[Mario Scelba]]
| order6             = 2nd [[President of the European Parliament]]
| term_start6        = 1954 
| term_end6          = [[19 August 19]], [[1954]]54
| predecessor6       = [[Paul Henri Spaak]]
| successor6         = [[Giuseppe Pella]]
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1881|4|3|df=y}}
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1954|8|19|1881|4|3|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Pieve Tesino]], [[Trentino]], [[County of Tyrol]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_place        = [[Passo Sella]], [[Italy]]
| spouse             = Francesca Romani
| alma_mater         = [[University of Vienna]]
| children           = Maria Romana De Gasperi <br> ''other 3 daughters''
| nationality        = [[Italians|Italian]]
| party              = [[Christian Democracy (Italy, historical)|Christian Democracy]]
| religion           = [[Roman Catholic]]
}}

'''Alcide De Gasperi''' ([[3 April]] [[  1881]] &ndash; [[19 August]] [[  1954]]) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[statesman]] and [[politician]] and founder of the [[Democrazia Cristiana|Christian Democratic Party]]. From 1945 to 1953 he was the [[prime minister]] of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics. He is considered to be one of the [[Founding fathers of the European Union]], along with the [[France|Frenchman]] [[Robert Schuman]] and the [[Germany|German]] [[Konrad Adenauer]].

==Biography==
===Early years===
De Gasperi was born in [[Pieve Tesino]] in Trentino, at that time belonging to [[Austria-Hungary]], now part of the [[Province of Trento]] in [[Italy]]. His father was a local police officer of limited financial means. From 1896 De Gasperi was active in the Social Christian movement. In 1900 he joined the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in [[Vienna]], where he played an important role in the inception of the Christian student movement. He was very much inspired by the [[Rerum Novarum]] [[encyclical]] issued by [[Pope Leo XIII]] in 1891. In 1904 he took an active part in the student demonstrations in favour of an Italian-language university. Imprisoned with other protesters during the inauguration of the Italian juridical faculty in [[Innsbruck]], he was released after twenty days. In 1905, De Gasperi obtained a degree in [[philology]].

In 1905 he began to work as editor of the newspaper ''La Voce Cattolica'' which was replaced in September 1906 by ''Il Trentino'', and after a short time he became its editor. In his newspaper he often took positions in favour of a cultural [[autonomy]] for [[Welschtirol]] and in defence of Italian culture in Trentino, in contrast to the [[Germanisation]] plans of the German radical nationalists in [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]]. However, he never questioned whether or not Trentino should belong to Austria–Hungary and claimed that, in the case of a referendum, 90% of the Trentino would nevertheless choose the popular Austrian emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] over the Italian motherland. 

In 1911 he became a [[Member of Parliament]] for the Popular Political Union of Trentine ([[Italian Language|Italian]]: ''Unione Politica Popolare del Trentino'' - UPPT) in the [[Austria]]n [[Reichsrat (Austria)|Reichsrat]], a post he held for 6 years. He was politically neutral during [[World War I]], which he spent in [[Vienna]]. However, he sympathized with the ultimately unsuccessful efforts of [[pope Benedict XV]] (1914-1922) and [[beatification|Bl.]] [[Karl I of Austria]] to obtain an honourable peace and stop the war and mass warfare. When his home region was transferred to Italy in the post-war settlement, he accepted Italian citizenship.

===Opposing Fascism===
In 1919 he was among of the founders of the [[Italian People's Party (1919-1926)|Italian People's Party]] ([[Italian Language|Italian]]: ''Partito Popolare Italiano'' - PPI), with Don [[Luigi Sturzo]]. He served as a deputy in the Italian Parliament from 1921 to 1924, a period marked by the rise of [[Italian fascism|Fascism]]. He initially supported the participation of the PPI in [[Benito Mussolini]]’s first government in October 1922.

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===Founding the Christian Democrat Party===
During [[World War II]], he organized the establishment of the first (and at the time, illegal) Christian Democracy party, or ''[[Democrazia Cristiana]]'', drawing upon the ideology of the Popular Party. In January 1943, he published "Ideas for reconstruction" (
[[Italian Language|Italian]]: ''Idee ricostruttive'') which amounted to a party programme for the party. He became the first general secretary of the new party in 1944.

De Gasperi was the undisputed head of the Christian Democrats, the party that dominated Parliament for the next decades. Although his control of the DC appeared almost complete, he had to carefully balance of different factions and interests, especially over relations with the Vatican, over social reform, and over foreign policy.

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===1948 elections===
{{main|Italian general election, 1948}}
The [[Italian general election, 1948|general elections in April 1948]] were heavily influenced by the cold-war confrontation between the [[Soviet Union]] and the 
[[United States]]. After the Soviet-inspired February 1948 communist coup in [[Czechoslovakia]], the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that, if the leftist coalition were to win the elections, the Soviet-funded [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI) would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. 

The election campaign remains unmatched in verbal aggression and fanaticism in Italy's history on both sides. The Catholic Church in Italy worked hard to encourage people to vote against communist candidates. The Christian Democratic [[propaganda]] became famous in claiming that in Communist countries "children sent parents to jail", "children were owned by the state", "people ate their own children", and claiming disaster would strike Italy if the left were to take power.<ref name=tim120448>[http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,779791,00.html Show of Force], Time Magazine, 12 April 12, 1948</ref><ref name=tim190448>[http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798374,00.html How to Hang On], Time Magazine, 19 April 19, 1948</ref> 

In the US a campaign was launched to prevent a victory of the Communist dominated [[Popular Democratic Front]] (FDP - {{lang-it|Fronte Democratico Popolare}}). Italian-Americans were encouraged to write letters to their relatives in Italy. The popular Italian-American singer [[Frank Sinatra]] made a [[Voice of America]] radio broadcast. The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) funneled "black bag" contributions to anti-communist candidates with the approval of the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA) and President [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]]. [[Joseph P. Kennedy]] and Claire Booth Luce helped to raise US$2 million for the Christian Democrat Party.<ref name=>[http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24cld.html  The Cold War Begins], Frank Eugene Smitha</ref> Time Magazine backed the campaign and featured De Gasperi on its 19 April 19, 1948 issue’s cover and in its lead story.<ref name=tim190448/> (He would appear on a Time cover again on 25 May 25, 1953, during the campaign for that year's election, with an extensive biography.<ref name=time250553> [http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/printout/0,8816,890557,00.html Man from the Mountains], Time Magazine, 25 May 25, 1953</ref>)

The Christian Democrats won a resounding victory with 48 percent of the vote (their best result ever, and not repeated since). The communists received only half the votes they had in 1946. The Christian Democrats won a parliamentary majority and De Gasperi formed a new centre-right government. In the following five years De Gasperi continued to run the country. "De Gasperi’s policy is patience," according to the foreign news correspondent for the [[New York Times]], [[Anne O'Hare McCormick|Anne McCormick]]. "He seems to be feeling his way among the explosive problems he has to deal with, but perhaps this wary mine-detecting method is the stabilizing force that holds the country in balance."<ref>New York Times, 16 February 16, 1949, quoted in [http://www.arts.mun.ca/congrips/newsletter/61%20-%20Fall%202005.pdf De Gasperi through American Eyes: Media and Public Opinion, 1945-53], by Steven F. White, in: Italian Politics and Society, No.61 Fall/Winter 2005</ref>

===Death and legacy===
In 1952, the party overwhelmingly endorsed his authority over the government and over the party. However, it was also the start of his decline. He came under increasing criticism from the emerging left wing in the party. Their main accusations were that he was too cautious in social and economic reform, that he stifled debate, and that he subordinated the party to the interests of government.

When the Christian Democrats did not gain a majority in the [[Italian general election, 1953|elections of 1953]], De Gasperi was unable to establish a workable government and was forced to resign as Prime Minister.<ref name=time270653> [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,936090,00.html Cabinet Maker], Time, 27 July 27, 1953</ref><ref name=time100853>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818642,00.html De Gasperi's Fall], Time, 10 August 10, 1953</ref> The following year he also had to give up the leadership of the party.

Two months later, on 19 August 19, 1954, he died in [[Sella di Valsugana]], in his beloved Trentino. He is buried in the [[Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura]], a basilica in [[Rome]]. The process for his [[beatification]] was opened in 1993.<ref>{{it icon}} [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92035 Servo di Dio Alcide De Gasperi], Santi beati</ref>

"De Gasperi was against exacerbating conflict," according to his former secretary and former Prime Minister [[Giulio Andreotti]]. "He taught us to search for compromise, to mediate."<ref name=ind240995>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n14008143 All the prime minister's men], by [[Alexander Stille]], The Independent, 24 September 24, 1995</ref>

He is considered to be one of the [[Founding fathers of the European Union]]. From the very beginning of European integration, De Gasperi, Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer met regularly.<ref>[http://www.epp-ed.eu/Activities/docs/cd-rom/degasperi-en.pdf Alcide De Gasperi's humanist and European message],  European People's Party</ref> He helped organize the [[Council of Europe]] and supported to the [[Schumann Plan]], which in 1951 led to the foundation of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC) - a forerunner in the process of European integration. He was named president of the Community in 1954, and although the project eventually failed, De Gasperi helped develop the idea of the common [[European Defense Community|European defence policy]].<ref>[http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=2497 In the beginning was De Gasperi], The Florentine, 4 October 4, 2007</ref> In 1952 he received the [[Karlspreis]] (International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen), an award by the German city of [[Aachen]] to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.

==See also==
* [[Alcide de Gasperi Building]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
* [http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/printout/0,8816,890557,00.html Man from the Mountains], biography in Time Magazine, 25 May 25, 1953
* [http://www.fondazionedegasperi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=782&IDSezione=4837&ID=94726 Alcide De Gasperi and his age: A chronology of the Statesman's life and works], Alcide De Gasperi Foundation
* [http://www.degasperi.net/index.php Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954)] by Pier Luigi Ballini,  Alcide De Gasperi in the history of Europe

==Bibliography==
* Pietro Scoppola, ''La proposta politica di De Gasperi'', Bologna, Il Mulino, 1977.
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