Footnotes to History

Premier Ivanoe Bonomi's new Italian Government finally took office last week in Salerno, planned an early move to Rome. Correspondents picked up some intriguing gossip about the prelude to Allied approval:

P: Winston Churchill, angered by the exclusion of royalist Marshal Pietro Badoglio (TIME, June 26), was astounded and chagrined by the behavior of General Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, Allied commander in Italy. General Alexander not only accepted Bonomi, but put up practically no fight to keep Mr. Churchill's favorite, Badoglio, in the new Government.

P: When Churchill raised the roof, Bonomi finally offered Badoglio a job in the new Cabinet as Defense Minister. The old Marshal had the grace and good sense to decline, offered to serve his country whenever he is both needed and wanted.

A valid reason for keeping Badoglio in the Government was that he and shelved King Vittorio Emanuele III had signed the Italian armistice. That document was still in effect, still a factor in Allied relations with Italy. Before he would consent to swallow Bonomi & Co., Mr. Churchill reportedly insisted that each member of the new Cabinet sign the armistice, accept its terms in toto.

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