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Segni, Antonio

Antonio Segni

b. 2 Feb 1891, Sassari, Sardinia
d. 1 Dec 1972, Rome

Title: Presidente della Repubblica (President of the Republic)
Term: 11 May 1962 - 6 Dec 1964
Chronology: 6 May 1962, elected, joint session of the Parliament (Parlamento), Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome [2]
11 May 1962, took the oath prescribed by law, joint session of the Parliament, Palazzo Montecitorio, Rome [3]
6 Dec 1964,
Biography:

Born into a deeply Catholic rural middle-class family originating from Liguria; received a law degree from the University of Sassari in 1913; was an artillery officer during World War I; joined the Italian Popular Party (Partito Popolare Italiano, PPI) at its inception in 1920; entered the University of Perugia as professor of civil law procedure (1920), where he remained until 1925; as a young Catholic activist, he opposed both to fascism and socialism; after the murder of the Socialist parliamentary leader Giacomo Matteotti, he organized an opposition committee; While out of office during the premiership of Mario Scelba in 1954-55, Segni held the chair of procedural law at Rome University; following the consolidation of fascist dictatorship, he had to retire from active political life; continued his academic carrier, but for political reasons he was not approved in 1932 to teach civil legal procedure at the University of Naples; during World War II and the final period of the fascist regime, he resumed political activities with other Sardinian Catholics; became a member of the national council of the new Catholic party, Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, DC) in 1944; took part in the Socialist Ivanoe Bonomi's government (1944-1945) as undersecretary in the agriculture department; retained this office in the government of Ferruccio Parri (1945) and in the first government of Alcide De Gasperi; was elected to the first Italian republican parliament, and served again as agriculture minister in the De Gasperi governments until 1951; developed a project for agrarian reform which was partially implemented in 1950;

Between July 1951 and January 1954 (except in the government formed only by the DC from July 16 to August 17, 1953), Scgni served as minister of public education. He dedicated most of his energies to the struggle against illiteracy. Segni led his first government, formed by the DC, Social Democrats (PSDI), and Liberals (PLI), from July 6, 1955, until May 19, 1957, with Aldo Moro at the Department of Justice. In these two years Italy was admitted to the United Nations and joined the European Economic Community (EEC, later EC). This government fell because of the EEC agrarian pacts supported by Segni. He rejoined Prime Minister Amintorc Fanfani's DC-PSDI government from July 1, 1958, to February 15, 1959, as assistant prime minister and defense minister. After the fall of Fanfani's government a single-party DC government led by Segni, who also held the office of internal affairs, lasted from February1 15, 1959, until March 25, 1960. After the fall of this second Segni government at the initiative of the PLI, the issue of working with the Socialists arose again. Segni retained the foreign ministry in the third and fourth Fanfani ministries, between July 1960 and June 21,1963. Segni, though distinguishing between the incompatibility of Catholicism and Marxism and the compatibility of Catholicism with a nonauthoritarian socialism, became leader of the opposition to any opening to a center-left policy. But Aldo Moro pushed the DC in the other direction. Segni stressed that Italy should remain faithful to NATO and to the integration of Europe. On this platform Scgni, thanks to the DC and to the right-wing par-

Biographical sources: tbd
Elections:

Candidate 1st ballot 2nd ballot 3rd ballot 4th ballot 5th ballot 6th ballot 7th ballot 8th ballot 9th ballot
  2 May 1962 2 May 1962 2 May 1962 3 May 1962 3 May 1962 3 May 1962 5 May 1962 5 May 1962 6 May 1962
voters present 834 831 842 843 841 842 840 843 842
votes cast 834 831 842 843 841 841 840 843 842
majority * 570 570 570 428 428 428 428 428 428
Antonio Segni 333 340 341 354 396 399 389 424 443
Umberto Elia Terracini 200 196 - - - - - - -
Alessandro Pertini 120 - - - - - - - -
Augusto De Marsanich 46 - - - - - - - -
Giuseppe Saragat 42 92 299 321 321 314 332 337 334
Giovanni Gronchi 20 32 44 45 43 43 29 20 -
Attilio Piccioni 12 41 51 40 28 17 - - -
Paolo Rossi 10 - - - - - - - -
Achille Lauro - 38 - - - - - - -
Cesare Merzagora - 12 13 11 14 18 12 - -
Calogero Volpe - - 37 - - - - - -
Luigi Condorelli - - - 38 - - - - -
scattered 8 15 11 8 3 4 15 17 13
blank 43 65 46 26 35 46 58 45 51
invalid - - - - 1 - 5 - 1
* Art. 83 (3) of the Constitution of 1947 requires a two-thirds majority of all the members of the chambers for election in the first three ballots, and a simple majority of all the members for all subsequent ballots.
Source of electoral results: Camera dei Deputati - Senato della Repubblica, Discussioni, Seduta Comune di Lunedì 10 Maggio 1948, pp. 1-7; Camera dei Deputati - Senato della Repubblica, Discussioni, Seduta Comune di Martedì 11 Maggio 1948, pp. 9-16.

[1] "Vita di Luigi Einaudi", op. cit., p. 14: "A Carrù ebbe i natali il 24 marzo 1874, Luigi Einaudi (*)..." {Footnote} * Per chi abbia vaghezza di saperlo posso soggiungere che nacque all' una pomeridiana e gli furono imposti i nomi di Luigi, Numa e Lorenzo. L'atto di nascita è steso alla pag. 10 del registro ed ha il numero 26."
[2] Camera dei Deputati - Senato della Repubblica, Discussioni, Seduta Comune di Martedì 11 Maggio 1948, pp. 9-16.
[3] Camera dei Deputati - Senato della Repubblica, Discussioni, Seduta Comune della Camera dei Deputati e del Senato della Repubblica Mercoledì 12 Maggio 1948, pp. 17-18.