Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-15
ItoIy's President Is No Red
Despite Dealings With Left
By GRAHAM HOVEY

ROME.-The two most significant
aspects In Giovanni Gronchi's cleo
ton as President Of Italy were not
directly related to the man himself
or his highly advertised support
from Communists and left Socialists.
And the most significant thing
about Signor Gronchi himself was
apparently least emphasized in i'm
mediate reports on the election out
side Italy.
These are sober second thoughts
by many careful observers, who
believe the two most important gen.
eral aspects of the stormy presi-
Dental contest were:
/. 1t struck a near-fatal blow at
the governing coalition Of democratic
center parties held together by
Mario Scelba as Premier for the
last is months.
2. It dramatized the deep, bitter
split within Italy's biggest party.
the Christian Democrats.
AS for the new President himself.
the fact least noted but possibly
most important about his election
is that it brings a Catholic party
member to the Quirinal Palace as
chief of state for the first time since
the unification of Italy in 1870.
Uneasy Truce
For weeks the Scelba government
coalition had been held together
only by an uneasy truce. The gov
eminent had all but collapsed on
the eve of Premier Scelbas de-
parture for America last March,
when Social Democrats and Liberals
split on the farm tenancy issue.
After that the Republicans with
drew their support. Moreover Signor
Scelba never had been satisfied with
the support he got from his own
Christian Democratic party, led by
Amintore Fanfani.
1t was obvious that thorny issue
could break up the coalition. The
issue finally came when the four
democratic parties were unable to
agree on a new President
Most Social Democrats and Lib
erals backed President Luigi Einaudi
for reelection. No one is certain
how the small Republican Party
voted.
The Christian Democrats fell
apart, in spite of a Scelba-Fanfant
agreement on Senator Cesare Mer-
zagora. But out of 372 votes, the
Christian Democrats could muster
only 245. The party's right wing
backed Signor Gronchi from the
start. This group was less interested
in electing Gronchi than in causing
intraparty trouble for Scelba and
Fanfani.
Decisive Split
Rarely have the Christian Demo-
Gratis split so decisiVely. There is
always opportunity for division
within broad-based party that in
cludes industrialists and big land
owners on one hand, trade unionists
and peasants on the other. The
Christian Democrats have since
patched up their differences in order
to present the picture of surface
unity, but Signor Fanfani may have
to make concessions to the right
wing to retain his leadership.
For the moment the collapse OF
the four-party democratic coalition
seems more serious. If the subse-
quent reconciliation proves not to
be permanent, it would, of course,
raise serious questions about the fu-
ture of Italian democracy and the
stability of Italy's foreign policy, now
based on western European Cooper
alton and close ties with the United
States.
ct seems likely that the center
coalitions re-affirmation of support
for Scelba was caused less by real
harmony than by fear-fear that q
divided center could not stand
against Gronchi's apparent desire to
have the far left represented in a
new premier's cabinet.)
If another collapse of the coalition
forces the Christian Democrats to
seek the support of Pietro Nenni's
left-wing Socialists, the price might