John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA
AR7661-L. President John F. Kennedy Meets with Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani of Italy
Amintore Fanfani
Prime Minister of Italy 1954, 1958–59, 1960–63, 1982–83, 1987
Italian political leader, a Christian Democrat. A noted scholar, he held several cabinet posts after World War II and was secretary of the Christian Democratic party from 1954 to 1959. He was premier in 1954, 1958–59, 1960–63 (twice), 1982–83, and 1987; in 1962 he succeeded in reorganizing his cabinet to include the Social Democrats, thus inaugurating an “opening to the left” in Italian politics. A strong supporter of the European Economic Community (Common Market), Fanfani was foreign minister in 1965 and in 1966–68. He also served (1965–66) as president of the UN General Assembly. He entered the Italian senate in 1968 and served as its president. In 1973, he resigned from that post to again become secretary of the Christian Democrats, but he returned to the senate in 1976 and was its president for six more years.