Witch-hunts and Corriere della Sera. A conservative perception of American political values in Cold War Italy: The 1950s

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse some features of the Italian reception of American political and cultural values in the early 1950s. The received version projects the image of a clear-cut divide between communists and anti-communists in their feelings toward America. That was not the case. Recent studies show that the division was more along cultural than political lines. The study of Italian newspapers seems to confirm that point of view. An in-depth review of Corriere della Sera shows that Italian mainstream commentators were far from unanimous in their appreciation of the United States. A complex and controversial picture of American society emerged even when the crucial issue of communism was raised. Pro-American commentators were far from being yes-men. At times, doubts crept in.

Notes

Luigi Bruti Liberati is full Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Milano and current President of the Italian Association of Canadian Studies. He has published extensively on the political relations between Canada and Italy and on the cultural relations between the United States and Italy. He is now working on an essay about the Second World War in American movies and literature and on a textbook about the history of the British Empire.

All translations by author.

 [1] McCarthy, ‘America: l'altro mito della cultura comunista’, 217–18; Gundle, Between Hollywood and Moscow, 3–10, 92–9.

 [2] Eco, ‘Il cuore rosso del sogno americano’. The article is based on a paper given at Columbia University in 1980.

 [3] Wanrooij, ‘Pro Aris et Focis’, 204–12; Saresella, Cattolicesimo italiano e sfida americana, 239–46.

 [4] Craveri and Quagliariello, L'antiamericanismo in Italia e in Europa, passim.

 [5] There are no scholarly books on Corriere della Sera in the post-war years. The only history of Corriere was written by one of its journalists. See Licata, Storia del Corriere della Sera.

 [6] See Gerbi and Liucci, Lo stregone; idem, Montanelli l'anarchico borghese , an excellent two-volume scholarly biography of Montanelli.

 [7] Vittorini, a writer and a militant communist intellectual, founded and edited Il Politecnico. The magazine had a short and troubled life from its beginnings in September 1945. Publication was discontinued in December 1947.

 [8] Readers can refer to journalist Filippo Sacchi's experience as outlined later in the article.

 [9] Piovene, ‘La libertà che gli americani amano’. The whole reportage was published in a slightly revised version in 1953 (Piovene, De America).

[10] Stille, ‘Duro attacco di Eisenhower al programma del Senatore Taft’.

[11] Stille, ‘Strategia lampo di Eisenhower per sfruttare il successo iniziale di Chicago’.

[12] Stille, ‘Eisenhower vincitore su Taft’.

[13] Stille, ‘Un rivale così affascinante Eisenhower non se l'era aspettato’.

[14] Stille, ‘Bradley giudica diminuite le probabilità di una guerra entro il ’54’.

[15] Rorty and Moshe, McCarthy and the Communists, 69.

[16] ‘La battaglia dei falsi’, l'Unità, 29 October 1952; Celentano, ‘Come un boomerang per i repubblicani l'accusa di comunista a Stevenson’.

[17] Stille, ‘Movimentato inizio in America dell'ultima settimana elettorale’.

[18] Guerriero, ‘55 milioni di americani scelgono oggi tra Eisenhower e Stevenson’.

[19] Guerriero, ‘Le elezioni americane’.

[20] Guerriero, ‘Generale di pace’.

[21] Il Mondo (1949–1966) was edited by Mario Pannunzio (1910–1968) and was the voice of the left wing of the Italian Liberal Party. In 1955 Pannunzio, as well as most of Il Mondo contributors, was among the founders of the Radical Party (‘Partito Radicale’).

[22] Montanelli, ‘Il Paese dove la ricchezza non rende nemici gli uomini’.

[23] Montanelli, ‘McCarthy e la caccia alle streghe’.

[24] Montanelli, ‘McCarthy e la caccia alle streghe’.

[25] Sarzi Amadé, ‘I sicari di Brown dalle tre dita vogliono la morte dei Rosenberg’; Dalla Mea, ‘Proteste contro l'assassinio da tutto il mondo’.

[26] ‘Le proteste del poeta Quasimodo e del professore Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli’, l'Unità, 15 February 1953.

[27] Vecchietti, ‘Chi avete assassinato?’.

[28] Ulisse, ‘Volevano vivere’.

[29] See, for example, Stille, ‘I Rosenberg hanno chiesto la grazia al Presidente Eisenhower’.

[30] Guerriero, ‘La vicenda Rosenberg attraverso gli atti del processo’. The article expressed some mild criticism about the fairness of the trial.

[31] Sacchi, ‘Risparmiate i Rosenberg. Possono essere innocenti’.

[32] Sacchi, ‘Risparmiate i Rosenberg. Possono essere innocenti’

[33] Stille, ‘Il padre della bomba atomica sospeso in attesa di inchiesta’.

[34] Prezzolini, ‘La bomba Oppenheimer’.

[35] Montanelli, ‘Oppenheimer contro se stesso’.

[36] Montanelli, ‘Oppenheimer contro se stesso’