Giovanni Leone Italian politician, twice prime minister of the country Date of Birth: 03.11.1908 Country: Italy

Biography of Giovanni Leone

Italian politician, two-time prime minister of Italy, and also president of Italy from 1971 to 1978. Giovanni Leone was born in Naples in September 1898. His father was one of the founders of the Christian Democratic Party in his hometown, which Leone later joined, becoming a supporter of its right-wing. In 1929, he obtained a legal education, and by 1946, he had achieved great heights in the government, becoming a member of the Constituent Assembly of Italy. In 1948, Leone was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, which he led in 1955. Giovanni Leone remained in this position until 1963 when he was elected prime minister of Italy. However, he held this high position for a short time, leaving the prime minister's seat just over two months later. After several attempts to become the president of the republic, Leone was elected a lifetime senator in 1967. In the same year, he again became the head of the Council of Ministers, but once again, his term was short-lived, lasting about six months. In 1971, Leone managed to reach new heights, replacing Giuseppe Saragat as the president of the country, receiving 518 out of 996 votes. As the president of the Italian Republic, Giovanni Leone became involved in a scandal when he visited Naples during a cholera epidemic and shook hands with one of the patients, while behind his back, he made a gesture of "horns" with his other hand. This gesture, captured by photographers on film, was interpreted as an insult to the sick and was widely covered in the media. However, this incident was not as loud as the scandal that erupted in 1978 when the American company "Lockheed Corporation" bribed the Christian Democratic Party of Italy and the country's leadership, including the prime minister and the president, in order to purchase C-130 Hercules aircraft for the Italian Air Force. As a result, this scheme was exposed, and Giovanni Leone was forced to resign in June of the same year. Giovanni Leone passed away in Rome in June 2001 at the age of 93.