740.00119 European War 1939/2557
The Head of the Italian Government (Badoglio) to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: I wish indeed to thank you for your letter of February 21. I am particularly grateful to you for the frankness with which you expressed yourself. In the very difficult and very grave hours through which Italy is passing, your word serves me as consolation and at the same time as a spur.
You write me that until such time as the Italian Government includes also the representatives of the leading anti-fascist political groups, it is not possible for a Head of Government to organize the conduct of the war on such a broad national scale as the status of an ally would require.
Now Italy is on the eve of such an event. I hope, that is, within a very short time to present to the country, after the many recent vicissitudes, a truly national government which will include within its composition the representatives of all the leading parties, organized and finally and solely directed toward the war against the Germans. And I wish to notify you thereof before anyone else, since to you more than to anyone else I feel bound by friendship and gratitude for the great deal you have already done for my country and for that which—I firmly hope—you will continue to do to restore it to that honorable place in the world of which you spoke in the unforgettable and dark hours of the armistice.
[Page 1088]Fully aware of the importance of your precious time and the great burden of work that weighs upon your shoulders, I wish merely to tell you how wise and humane it would be if the advent of the new democratic Italian Government were accompanied by full reexamination of the very harsh terms made to us six months ago: that is, briefly, Italy’s transition from cobelligerency to alliance.
No occasion could be more propitious, no occasion more favorable. You yourself, moreover, refer to it explicitly in your letter. And no living man could better than yourself, Mr. President, perform this task of synchronizing the imminent advent of the new democratic Italy with her definitive alignment among the Allied nations.
The United States would in this way assume in Italy and the Mediterranean a leading part vis-à-vis all the other Powers; she would assure for herself a decided and decisive influence on Italy and Italian affairs; would neutralize any action and influence from the East; would thaw the rigid, intransigent British policy, impelling it toward more constructive goals and tasks. Moreover, she would galvanize the whole nation, both in the south and the north, for the final struggle against the Germans and for the work of rebuilding the country on those liberal and democratic bases which are your and our common ideal.
Italy has, as you know, passed through the sorriest phase of her history; other hard phases await her. Her cities are semi-destroyed; three-fourths of her people groan beneath the German heel; suffering is the lot of each and all.
It is not vain and empty rhetoric to tell you, Mr. President, that all Italy is at this moment looking to you, and these, I believe, are rare moments in the lives of men and peoples.
It is certain that a word and a move from you in this direction could do more than anything else for Italy’s revival and regeneration, which are and must be spiritual above all.
Please accept the assurance, Mr. President, of my loyal and cordial friendship.