865.01/564: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul General at Algiers (Wiley)
1988. For Murphy. We agree in general with the observations contained in section 2 of your 1781, October 18, 5 a.m. It is our understanding however that the personnel available for the formation of a liberal government is limited in Southern Italy. We would like your comments on the possibility of forming satisfactory government prior to its return to Rome.
[Page 414]Recent press reports from Algiers indicate that “Committees of National Liberation” are being formed in Southern Italy for the purpose “of solving the political problem of setting up a government in the void left by failing Fascism.” A press report from Naples states that the Partito d’Azione has published an eight point program demanding the immediate establishment of a republican form of government in Italy. This does not seem to be in line with Sforza’s comment that a change of government at the present time is out of the question.
We are also curious about the report that Leopoldo Piccardi, Badoglio’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Labor, is in Naples as the “key figure in the movement of the Committees of National Liberation”. Has Piccardi ever rejoined the Badoglio Government and is he functioning as one of its Ministers?