Alberto Tarchiani

Alberto Tarchiani began as a journalist, worked in New York, and served in the First World War before becoming a senior editor at Corriere della Sera. Fascist pressure drove him into exile in France. He helped organize the 1929 escape of Carlo Rosselli, Emilio Lussu, and Francesco Nitti from confinement on Lipari and participated in Giustizia e Libertà. After France’s defeat in 1940 he moved to the United States and worked with the antifascist Mazzini Society. ¹

He returned to Italy during the war, briefly served as minister of public works in 1944, and became ambassador in Washington in 1945. With Egidio Ortona among his collaborators, he sought American economic assistance and worked on Italy’s place in the postwar settlement, including Trieste and entry into the Atlantic alliance. ¹

In a conversation with Under Secretary Robert Lovett on 28 August 1947, Tarchiani explained that Britain’s suspension of sterling convertibility had left Italy short of dollars for grain, coal, and petroleum. He asked for American support for an additional $100 million Export–Import Bank loan and a $250 million World Bank loan, and raised Italy’s admission to the United Nations. ²

After a decade in Washington, Tarchiani retired and published Dieci anni tra Roma e Washington. His account of an ambassador’s frustrations, Tormenti di un ambasciatore, appeared posthumously. He died in Rome in 1964. ¹