GRONCHI, GIOVANNI

(1887–1978)

Born in Pontedera (Pisa), by his early twenties this Tuscan schoolteacher was among those liberal Catholics who eventually formed the Partito Popolare Italiano/Italian People’s Party (PPI) in 1919. After World War I, he was active in Azione Cattolica/Catholic Action (ACI); by 1922, Gronchi was at the head of Catholic labor unions. He publicly opposed Pius XI’s involving Azione Cattolica in labor questions, fearful that it would inevitably lead to trade unions’ subordination to the regime. When Gronchi realized the futility of his struggle for autonomy, he repeatedly warned that tying the Church closely to the regime could only damage the Church, the worker, and the nation, should Fascist militarism and incompetence lead to disaster.Moreover, he argued that the new state, far from being consonant with Catholic doctrine as expressed in Rerum Novarum, was an instrument for the imposition of the state’s will. Dissenting from the pope’s policies, Gronchi withdrew from political activity until 1943. In September 1943, the new government of Pietro Badogliomade it possible for party life to resume. Gronchi soon emerged as a major figure in the nascent Democrazia Cristiana/Christian Democracy Party (DC). Gronchi was a conspicuous figure on the left of the DC and eventually broke with the more centrist position of Alcide De Gasperi. He advocated an independent Italian foreign policy within Western Europe and an “opening” to the socialists. By combining their strength, the Catholic and socialist masses could, in his view, create a left Catholic regime in Italy. In 1955 these progressive political views attracted the combined votes of the Partito Comunista Italiano/Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Partito Socialista Italiano/Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and allowed the DC to propel him into the presidency of the republic, where he remained until 1962, when he became a life senator. While president, his official trip to the Soviet Union in February 1960 exposed him to criticism from the nationalist and conservative right. Active in the Senate as he had been in the party, he served on the foreign affairs committee and—in the last Parliamentof his life (he died in Romein 1978)—on the defense committee.

See alsoTambroni, Fernando.