Mario Tanassi

Mario Tanassi
Deputy Prime Minister of Italy
In office
26 June 1972 – 8 July 1973
Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti
Preceded byFrancesco De Martino
Succeeded byUgo La Malfa
Other Ministerial offices
Minister of Finance
In office
14 March 1974 – 23 November 1974
Prime MinisterMariano Rumor
Preceded byEmilio Colombo
Succeeded byBruno Visentini
Minister of Defence
In office
26 June 1972 – 14 March 1974
Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti
Mariano Rumor
Preceded byFranco Restivo
Succeeded byGiulio Andreotti
In office
23 March 1970 – 18 February 1972
Prime MinisterMariano Rumor
Emilio Colombo
Preceded byLuigi Gui
Succeeded byFranco Restivo
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftsmanship
In office
12 December 1968 – 5 August 1969
Prime MinisterMariano Rumor
Preceded byGiulio Andreotti
Succeeded byDomenico Magrì
Parliamentary offices
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
16 May 1963 – 13 March 1979
ConstituencyRome
Personal details
Born(1916-03-17)17 March 1916
Died5 May 2007(2007-05-05) (aged 91)
PartyPSIUP (until 1947)
PSLI (1947–1951)
PSDI (since 1951)
ProfessionJournalist, Politician

Mario Tanassi (17 March 1916[1] – 5 May 2007) was an Italian politician, who was several times Minister of the Italian Republic. In 1979 he was condemned by the Constitutional Court of Italy for his involvement in the Lockheed bribery scandal.

Biography

Tanassi was born at Ururi, in the province of Campobasso.[2] He joined the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano; PSDI) and was later national co-secretary, alongside Francesco De Martino, of the unified PSI-PSDI, a short-lived reunion of the PSDI and the Italian Socialist Party.[3][4] In 1963 he became a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies, a position he would hold until 1979.[5]

He was minister of defence for the first time in the Rumor II Cabinet (1970), formed by an alliance between Christian Democracy (DC), PSI and PSDI. In 1972 he was again appointed as minister of defence, as well as vice-prime minister, in the Andreotti II Cabinet (in which the Italian Liberal Party had replaced the Socialists). Tanassi was minister of defence for the third time in the fourth Rumor Government (DC-PSI-PSDI-PRI).

After a short tenure in 1972, in June 1975 he again became national secretary of the PSDI, replacing Flavio Orlandi. Soon afterwards, he was involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal together with Mariano Rumor and Luigi Gui, causing him to lose his position as the party's secretary. In 1979 the Constitutional Court of Italy found him guilty of bribery and he spent four months in jail.[6] He was the first Italian former minister to serve a prison sentence and the first politician convicted before the nationwide Clean Hands corruption scandals in the 1990s.[7]

Electoral history

Election House Constituency Party Votes Result
1948 Chamber of Deputies Campobasso US 1,652 N Not elected
1963 Chamber of Deputies Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone PSDI 26,103 Y Elected
1968 Chamber of Deputies Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone PSU 54,105 Y Elected
1972 Chamber of Deputies Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone PSDI 51,179 Y Elected
1976 Chamber of Deputies Rome–Viterbo–Latina–Frosinone PSDI 13,876 Y Elected

References

  1. ^ Vita italiana (in Italian). Presidenza del consiglio dei ministri, Servizi informazioni e della proprietà letteraria. 1973. p. 750. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  2. ^ "Tanassi, Mario". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  3. ^ Baldan, Attilio (2007). Un paese di eroi e parassiti: riflessioni sulla cultura politica italiana contemporanea (in Italian). Aracne. p. 177. ISBN 978-88-548-1026-6. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  4. ^ Gregori, Enrico (4 July 2016). "4 luglio 1968 Si riunisce a Roma la corrente "Rinnovamento socialista"". Il Messaggero (in Italian). Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Mario Tanassi / Deputati / Camera dei deputati - Portale storico". storia.camera.it. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  6. ^ CORTE COSTITUZIONALE IN COMPOSIZIONE INTEGRATA. "Sentenza nel giudizio penale di accusa n. 1 del registro generale 1977". Sentenza Lockheed. Consulta Online. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  7. ^ Colazingari, Silvia; Rose-Ackerman, Susan (1998). "Corruption in a Paternalistic Democracy: Lessons from Italy for Latin America". Political Science Quarterly. 113 (3): 465. doi:10.2307/2658076. ISSN 0032-3195. JSTOR 2658076.
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