Giuseppe Saragat

Senator for life Giuseppe Saragat
5th President of Italy
In office 29 December 1964 – 29 December 1971
Prime Minister	Aldo Moro Giovanni Leone Mariano Rumor Emilio Colombo
Preceded by	Antonio Segni
Succeeded by	Giovanni Leone
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 4 December 1963 – 22 July 1964
Prime Minister	Aldo Moro
Preceded by	Attilio Piccioni
Succeeded by	Aldo Moro
Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
In office 10 February 1954 – 19 May 1957
Prime Minister	Mario Scelba Antonio Segni
Preceded by	Attilio Piccioni
Succeeded by	Giuseppe Pella
In office 1 June 1947 – 27 January 1950
Prime Minister	Alcide De Gasperi
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Attilio Piccioni
President of the Constituent Assembly
In office 25 June 1946 – 6 February 1947
Preceded by	Carlo Sforza
Succeeded by	Umberto Terracini
President of the Italian Democratic Socialist Party
In office March 1976 – October 1976
Preceded by	Mario Tanassi
Succeeded by	Pier Luigi Romita
In office April 1957 – January 1964
Preceded by	Gianmatteo Matteotti
Succeeded by	Mario Tanassi
In office October 1952 – February 1954
Preceded by	Giuseppe Romita
Succeeded by	Gianmatteo Matteotti
In office November 1949 – January 1952
Preceded by	Ludovico d'Aragona
Succeeded by	Ezio Vigorelli
In office January 1947 – February 1948
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Alberto Simonini
Personal details
Born	19 September 1898 Turin, Italy
Died	11 June 1988 (aged 89) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	United Socialist Party (1922–1930) Italian Socialist Party (1930–1947) Italian Democratic Socialist Party (1947–1988)
Spouse(s)	Giuseppina Bollani (died 1962)
Alma mater	University of Turin

Giuseppe Saragat (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈsaːraɡat]; 19 September 1898 – 11 June 1988) was an Italian politician who was the fifth President of the Italian Republic from 1964 to 1971.

Personal life

Giuseppe Saragat with daughter Ernestina and grandchild, Rome, April 1963.

Saragat was born in Turin, from Sardinian parents. He died in Rome on 11 June 1988. He is said to have been an atheist.^[1]

Political career

Member of the United Socialist Party since 1922, he moved to Vienna in 1926 and to France in 1929 and joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1930. He was a reformist democratic socialist, who split from the Italian Socialist Party in 1947, out of concern over its close (at the time) alliance with the communists, to found the Socialist Party of Italian Workers, which would soon become the Italian Democratic Socialist Party. He was to be the latter's paramount leader for the rest of his life.^[2]

He had been Minister without portfolio for the Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity in 1944 and ambassador in Paris for two years, from 1945 to 1946, Saragat was appointed as President of the Constituent Assembly of Italy. Subsequently he was nominated as Foreign minister from 1963 to 1964, and chosen as President of the Italian Republic in 1964. His election was the result of one of the rare instances of unity in the Italian left, and followed rumours of a possible neo-fascist coup during Antonio Segni's presidency.^[2]

References

1. Bruno Vespa, L'amore e il potere. da Rachele a Veronica, un secolo di storia italiana, Mondadori, Milano, 2009, p. 120.
2. Saragat, Giuseppe: “Dizionario di Storia” – Treccani (in Italian) Retrieved 20 April 2013.

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