A Sniper's Fate

Even in the rough-and-tumble of Italian politics, tough, indefatigable Amintore Fanfani excelled at infighting. Seven months ago, when the Chamber of Deputies with only seven votes to spare invested him Premier, it seemed that he had at last achieved his ambition. He was a man with three crucial jobs: Premier, Foreign Minister, boss of the Christian Democratic Party. But last week, his triumph reduced to ashes, Amintore Fanfani renounced all his jobs and his dream.

Immediate cause of Fanfani's downfall was a split inside his coalition partner, the Social Democrats, without whose 22 votes his government had no majority in the chamber. But, as in a classic tragedy, the real cause lay within Amintore Fanfani himself. In his four-year fight to win unchallenged control of the Christian Democratic Party, Fanfani had performed a useful service by remolding the party machinery in his own efficient image: late to bed, early to rise, always on the job. Trouble was that by ruthless pursuit of his own ambitions, Fanfani had made enemies. Ex-Premier Mario Scelba, whose government Fanfani tumbled by backstage maneuvering in 1955, was not inclined to forgive or forget. Formidable Giuseppe Pella, still probably the most popular Demo-Christian politician in Italy, had two grievances: Fanfani helped overturn Pella's government in 1954, dropped Pella as Foreign Minister last July.

Added to these personal vendettas was the distaste of right-wing Christian Democrats for Fanfani's "opening to the left" solution to Italy's economic problems. On open votes of confidence, Fanfani won dutiful majorities. But on secret ballots, the right-wingers harassed, hamstrung and even outvoted Fanfani so that he never really got a chance to function as Premier. They did so without regret. "Talk about sniping," said one Roman pundit. "Fanfani practically invented it."

After a week in which Fanfani could form no new government, and no one else of stature seemed prepared to form a government either, with Fanfani likely to snipe, a surprising event occurred. Professing himself disillusioned and "disgusted with politics," Fanfani, in a note pounded out on his own typewriter, abruptly resigned as party secretary "in order to eliminate any obstacles to the indispensable work of unity." And when dismayed leaders of the Christian Democratic machine urged him to reconsider, proud Amintore Fanfani bitterly replied: "Even if I were once again named Premier, I would not accept."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.