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First, Party Approval. Fanfani is giving the appearance of being a shrewd parliamentary politician. He asks De Gasperi's advice about everything. At a caucus of the party's Roman Deputies last fortnight, he asked and got an overwhelming endorsement—141 to 4. Later he won a promise of help from the tiny Liberal and Republican Parties. He could not sell his social reforms to the Monarchists, but by stressing the vigor of his pro-Western and anti-Communist feelings, he sought to persuade them not to vote against him. Giuseppe Saragat stubbornly refused to pledge his 19 right-wing Socialist delegates to Fanfani, but by a series of shrewdly written letters, Fanfani in effect put Saragat in a public position where to vote against him would be to vote against the social reforms Saragat believes in.
At week's end, Fanfani had his lines laid, a program roughed out and a large itch to get moving. Eighteen of his 19 Cabinet choices are Christian Democrats. The first Italian Premier since war's end who will not be his own Foreign Minister. Fanfani picked Moderate Rightist Attilio Piccioni, a strong supporter of the West, for the job. As Minister of the Interior, with orders to step up measures against Communist subversion, Fanfani named young (35) Giulio Andreotti. a protégé of De Gasperi and a Catholic Actionist.
Barring a sudden hitch, Fanfani could probably count on a slim mandate from the Chamber of Deputies. "These extremist leftists," said he, "are able to do a lot because we others, the democrats, do very little," Amintore Fanfani hoped to change all that.