Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western Europe and Canada, Volume VI, Part 2

Secretary’s Memoranda, lot 53 D 544, “February 1952”

No. 724
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Byington)¹

top secret

Washington, February 12, 1952.

• Subject: Italian Situation

Participants:

• The Italian Ambassador, Mr. Tarchiani
• The Secretary of State
• Mr. Byington, WE

The Italian Ambassador said that Prime Minister De Gasperi was becoming increasingly preoccupied with the internal situation in Italy. He hoped that during the course of the conversations in Lisbon De Gasperi would have an opportunity to speak personally with the Secretary of State on this subject.² The Italian Government was confronted by the forthcoming administrative elections this spring in the south and by the national elections which were now only one year away.

The Communist Party apparently has unlimited funds to finance its activities and is becoming increasingly active in the south. The government is hard put to offset the Communist campaign that the costs of rearmament will lower the present low standard of living for the worker.

Prime Minister De Gasperi’s government at the same time faces increasing opposition on the part of the land owners who oppose its policy of agrarian reform and on the part of the industrialists who do not approve of the fiscal reform and of its consequent increase in taxes. These two programs which are politically necessary in Italy have the effect of alienating financial support which is also desperately needed by the government.

. . . . . . .

The Secretary replied that he had been fully informed of the situation in Italy and that he was deeply interested in it. He said that he would look forward to talking personally with Prime Minister De Gasperi at Lisbon.

Ambassador Tarchiani then referred to the Italian note to the Soviet Union, the text of which he had given to Mr. Perkins yesterday,³ and inquired whether the Secretary had any views in that regard. Other than expressing general agreement with the Italian action, the Secretary did not pursue the matter.

Ambassador Tarchiani also touched on the negotiations between Italy and Yugoslavia concerning Trieste and referred to his explanation to Mr. Perkins yesterday of the difficulties in the way of an agreement. He characterized the Yugoslav proposals as most unreasonable and expressed pessimism with regard to the possibility of a favorable outcome.

1. The source text was initialed “D. A. (F[red] L. H[adsel])”.
2. Regarding a conversation between Acheson and De Gasperi in Lisbon on Feb. 21, 1952, see vol. v, Part 1, p. 128.
3. The note verbale which the Italian Foreign Ministry delivered to the Soviet Embassy in Rome on Feb. 8 protested the USSR’s veto, in the meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 6, of a proposal to admit Italy to the United Nations. A copy was transmitted with a note of Feb. 11 from the Italian Embassy to the Secretary of State, both of which were given by Tarchiani to Perkins on Feb. 11. (Memorandum of conversation, Feb. 11; 310.2/2–1152)