Alcide de Gasperi's strength is also his weakness. He has ruled over Italy for five out of its six postwar years, thus giving a troubled nation a stable government and the West a good friend. But to do this, he has had to conciliate almost all factions (save the Communists, whom he fought uncompromisingly all the time). In his sprawling Demo-Christian Party there are some who favor land reform and some who resist it; some who support a balanced budget and others committed to heavy spending to help the unemployed. De Gasperi learned how to appoint one wing to office,...
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