Aldo Moro (23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was Prime Minister of Italy from 4 December 1963 to 24 June 1968 (interrupting Giovanni Leone's two terms) and from 23 November 1974 to 29 July 1976 (succeeding Mariano Rumor and preceding Giulio Andreotti).
Biography[]
Aldo Moro was born in Maglie, Apulia, Italy on 23 September 1916. He was raised as a devout and active Catholic, and he became president of the student chapter of the University of Bari, where he studied law. In 1939, he transferred to the University of Rome and became president of the National Catholic Universities' Student Federation. He then lectured in law at the University of Bari and, in 1945, was elected to the Constituent Assembly as a member of the Christian Democracy party. A parliamentary deputy from 1948, he was Minister of Justice from 1955 to 1957, of Education from 1957 to 1959, and of Foreign Affairs from 1969 to 1972 and from 1973 to 1974. The leading figure of the left wing of the DC, as the party's secretary-general from 1959 to 1964 he steered it towards the left and thus enabled it to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party from 1963 onwards. While he was Prime Minister, the first steps towards abolishing sharecropping were made in 1964, while the landless tenants were given cheap credit to enable them to become landowners in their own right. Under the socialist influence, in 1967 a five-year economic programme was established, though central planning instruments for its implementation were never used. On 16 March 1978, Moro was abducted by the Red Brigades, and he was found shot eight weeks later.
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