Giacomo De Martino

Giacomo De Martino came from a diplomatic family and joined the Foreign Ministry in 1891 after studying social sciences in Florence. Assignments in Istanbul and Cairo made Ottoman affairs a central part of his early career. He supported Italian colonial expansion and, as chargé in Istanbul in 1911, delivered the ultimatum and declaration of war that preceded Italy’s conquest of Libya. ¹

He became secretary general of the Foreign Ministry in 1913, worked closely with Antonino di San Giuliano and Sidney Sonnino, and helped prepare Italian policy during the First World War. He was secretary general of Italy’s delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, then headed missions in Berlin, London, and Tokyo. By the time he moved to Washington in 1925 he had embraced Fascism. ¹

His first major American task was preparing the settlement of Italy’s wartime debt. He served on Finance Minister Giuseppe Volpi’s delegation, which concluded an agreement in November 1925. He also dealt extensively with Italian emigration and the Italian-American community during his seven years at the embassy. ¹

On 19 April 1928 De Martino and Secretary of State Frank Kellogg signed a new bilateral arbitration treaty. It provided for legal disputes unresolved through diplomacy or conciliation to be submitted to an agreed tribunal, while excluding domestic matters, interests of third parties, and issues involving the Monroe Doctrine or Italy’s League obligations. ²