811.00F/201
The Department of State to the Italian Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
The Department has recently received from American citizens, many of them responsible persons on whose statements we have felt that we could rely, complaints in regard to the activities of certain [Page 544] Italian consular officers stationed in this country. We have made a thorough investigation of the activities complained of. From the statements—some of them in the form of sworn affidavits—which we have received and from the reports of our own investigators, it appears that there has recently been a recrudescence of such activities on the part of Italian consular officers in the organization of Fascist propaganda in the United States as formed the subject of complaint some years ago, at which time the Royal Italian Government agreed to cease to support those organizations of which the activities were the subject of complaint.35
It appears that Signor Giacomo Ungarelli, Italian Vice Consul in Detroit, has been particularly over zealous and ill advised in his attempts at Fascist propaganda among American citizens of Italian origin in that city. His activities have been resented by a large section of the community. They have become the subject of polemics in the press and they have stirred up a bitter controversy among American citizens of Italian origin, which seems to be becoming daily more violent. The accusations against him are so numerous, so serious and so widely credited in the community that it would appear that he is no longer in a position to perform effectively his proper functions as a Consul and that his further presence in Detroit would result in manifestations of public opinion which would be deeply regretted by both the Italian and the American Governments.
The activities of Professors Cesare Porotti, Mario Giani and Marcello Zerqueni, attached to the Italian Consulates in Detroit, New York and Philadelphia respectively, cannot be viewed without concern by the American Government. The full scope of their activities is not known to the Department but the very fact that men of such attainments are attached to Consulates in the capacity of clerks has aroused a feeling of suspicion among American citizens who are particularly hostile to any form of foreign propaganda in this country. They have imported and distributed free of charge to public and parochial schools text books which are not appropriate for use in the education of American children, and the use of these text books has aroused wide spread criticism.
Charges that Italian consular officers, including among others those mentioned above, are using their official positions to carry on Fascist propaganda in this country have been made to members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. The activities of Signor Ungarelli were specifically mentioned in the report of the Committee on Un-American Activities which appeared on February 14.36 Thus far [Page 545] any discussion of this matter in Congress has been avoided, but should the present situation be permitted to continue, Fascist propaganda directed by Italian Consuls will undoubtedly become the subject of discussion in Congress.
In view of the facts recited above, it is informally suggested that Signor Ungarelli and Professors Porotti, Giani and Zerqueni be transferred to some other country; that Italian consular officers in this country be invited to avoid activities liable to arouse such hostility as that which Signor Ungarelli has aroused in the community in which he is stationed; that no persons charged with duties similar to those performed by Professors Porotti, Giani and Zerqueni be attached henceforth to Italian Consulates in this country; and that the free distribution in American schools of textbooks printed in Italy be discontinued.
- See memorandum by the Under Secretary of State, November 10, 1932, Foreign Relations, 1932, vol. ii, p. 457.↩
- Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Investigation of Nasi and Other Propaganda, Report No. 153, 74th Cong., 1st sess.↩