ITALY: Moving to the Left

In the Hall of Mirrors of Rome's block-long Quirinale Palace. Italy's 70-year-old President Giovanni Gronchi swore in his good friend Amintore Fanfani, 50, as Premier, along with a Cabinet of 19. Not since Italy became a Republic after World War II had an Italian government leaned so far to the left.

The new government could be expected to be as pro-West as before, but its makeup showed Fanfani's determination to break with Italy's postwar middle-of-the-road pattern. To his only ally in the coalition government, Giuseppe Saragat's anti-Communist Socialists, Fanfani gave four crucial...

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