Mario Tanassi (17 March 1916 – 5 May 2007) was an Italian politician, who was several times Minister of the Italian Republic. In 1979 he was condemned by the

Constitutional Court of Italy The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic ( it, Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the highest court of Italy in matters of constitutional law. Sometimes, the name ''Consulta'' is used as a metonym for it, because its sessi ...

for his involvement in the

Lockheed bribery scandal The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft. The scandal caused consi ...

Biography

Tanassi was born at Ururi, in the

province of Campobasso A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

. He joined the

Italian Democratic Socialist Party The Italian Democratic Socialist Party (, PSDI), also known as Italian Social Democratic Party, was a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. The longest serving partner in government for Christian Democracy, the PSDI had been an imp ...

(''Partito Socialista Democratico Italiano''; PSDI) and was later national co-secretary, alongside

Francesco De Martino Francesco de Martino (31 May 1907 – 18 November 2002) was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator (1991–2002) and former Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was considered by many to be the conscience of the Italian Socia ...

, of the

unified PSI-PSDI The Unified Socialist Party ( it, Partito Socialista Unificato), officially called Unified PSI–PSDI (''PSI–PSDI Unificati''), was the name of the federation of parties formed by the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and the Italian Democratic So ...

, a short-lived reunion of the PSDI and the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parties of the country. Founded in Genoa in 1892 ...

. He was minister of defence for the first time in the

Rumor II Cabinet The Rumor II Cabinet was the 24th cabinet of the Italian Republic Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, an ...

(1970), formed by an alliance between

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

(DC), PSI and PSDI. In 1972 he was again appointed as minister of defence, as well as vice-prime minister, in the

Andreotti II Cabinet The Andreotti II Cabinet was the 28th cabinet of the Italian Republic. It held office from 26 June 1972 to 8 July 1973, for a total of 377 days (1 year, 13 days). It was also known as Andreotti-Malagodi Cabinet. He obtained the confidence of th ...

(in which the

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy. The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...

had replaced the Socialists). Tanassi was minister of defence for the third time in the fourth Rumor Government (DC-PSI-PSDI-

PRI PRI may refer to: Entertainment and media * '' Performance Racing Industry'', a magazine * PRI Records, in Los Angeles, US * Public Radio International, Minneapolis, US Measurements and codes * Perceptual Reasoning Index, in the WAIS-IV intelli ...

). After a short tenure in 1972, in June 1975 he again became national secretary of the PSDI, replacing Flavio Orlandi. Soon afterwards, he was involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal together with Mariano Rumor and Luigi Gui, causing him to lose his position as the party's secretary. In 1979 the Constitutional Court of Italy found him guilty of bribery and he spent four months in jail. He was the first Italian former minister to serve a prison sentence and the first politician convicted before the nationwide Clean Hands corruption scandals in the 1990s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanassi, Mario 1916 births 2007 deaths People from the Province of Campobasso Italian Democratic Socialist Party politicians 20th-century Italian politicians Government ministers of Italy Finance ministers of Italy Italian Ministers of Defence Deputy Prime Ministers of Italy