Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi was the Italian Socialist Party secretary from 1976 and Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987 who was the only major political figure to publicly advocate negotiating for Aldo Moro's release in 1978, and who fled Italy in 1994 to avoid Tangentopoli corruption prosecution, dying in self-imposed exile in Tunisia.
Bettino Craxi (born Benedetto Craxi on February 24, 1934, in Milan) was the dominant figure of the Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI) from 1976 until its dissolution under the weight of the Tangentopoli corruption investigations. He served as Prime Minister of Italy from August 1983 to March 1987 - the first Socialist to hold that office - and was the only major Italian political leader to publicly call for negotiating with the Red Brigades for Aldo Moro's release in 1978. He died in Hammamet, Tunisia, on January 19, 2000, in self-imposed exile.1
Rise in the PSI
Craxi was elected PSI national secretary in July 1976, transforming a declining party into a more assertive centrist force. Under his leadership the PSI abandoned residual Marxist rhetoric and repositioned as a modernizing, pragmatic party of government. He cultivated an autonomous profile distinct from both the Democrazia Cristiana and the PCI, which allowed the PSI to leverage its position as coalition kingmaker in DC-led governments.1
The Moro Crisis
When Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigades on March 16, 1978, and held for 55 days, Craxi was almost alone among Italian political leaders in arguing for negotiations and the possibility of a prisoner exchange. The DC and PCI, in a convergence described as the "party of firmness" (partito della fermezza), maintained an absolute refusal to negotiate. Craxi's position - that the state had an obligation to attempt to save Moro's life even at political cost - was publicly stated and privately pressed within government deliberations.
The political weight of this stand was significant: Craxi was arguing against both the dominant DC faction under Giulio Andreotti and the PCI leadership under Enrico Berlinguer, who supported the no-negotiation position. When Moro was murdered on May 9, 1978, Craxi's was the dissenting record.2
Prime Ministership
Craxi became Prime Minister in August 1983 at the head of a five-party coalition (pentapartito) including the DC, PSI, and three smaller parties. His government lasted until March 1987, making it one of the longer-lived governments of the postwar Italian Republic. His tenure was marked by economic growth, a high-profile dispute with the United States over the Achille Lauro affair (in which Craxi refused to allow American forces to take custody of Palestinian hijackers held in Italy), and the consolidation of PSI power within Italian institutional life.
The Achille Lauro confrontation in October 1985 - in which Craxi ordered Italian aircraft to intercept an American military plane carrying the hijackers and blocked a US landing at Sigonella - was his most dramatic assertion of Italian sovereignty against American pressure.1
Tangentopoli and Exile
The Tangentopoli (Bribesville) investigations that began in Milan in February 1992 targeted the systematic corruption of Italian political parties, including the PSI. The investigations revealed that the PSI had been financed through a sophisticated kickback system in which corporate contracts were awarded in exchange for party contributions. Craxi himself was charged with corruption on a large scale.
Facing multiple corruption indictments and the near-certainty of imprisonment, Craxi left Italy in May 1994, establishing residence in Hammamet, Tunisia. The Tunisian government declined to extradite him. He was tried and convicted in absentia on multiple counts of corruption and sentenced to more than twenty years total. He died in Hammamet on January 19, 2000, and was buried there. His exile and death without return to Italy were widely viewed as a self-chosen refusal of accountability that contrasted with his earlier reputation for political courage.1
Sources
- Ginsborg, Paul. A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 1943-1988. Penguin, 1990. Mammarella, Giuseppe. Italy after Fascism: A Political History 1943-1965. University of Notre Dame Press, 1966. ↩
- Drake, Richard. The Aldo Moro Murder Case. Harvard University Press, 1995. Willan, Philip. Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy. Constable, 1991. ↩
Local network
Bettino Craxi's direct connections. Click any node to navigate, drag to pan, scroll (or pinch) to zoom. + 2‑hop expands the neighborhood one level further.