Antonio Segni (2 February 1891-1 December 1972) was Prime Minister of Italy from 6 July 1955 to 20 May 1957 (succeeding Mario Scelba and preceding Adone Zoli) and from 16 February 1959 to 26 March 1960 (succeeding Amintore Fanfani and preceding Fernando Tambroni) and President of Italy from 11 May 1962 to 6 December 1964 (succeeding Giovanni Gronchi and preceding Giuseppe Saragat). He was the father of Mario Segni.
Biography[]
Antonio Segni was born in Sassari, Sardinia, Italy in 1891, and he grew up in a well-off and politically-involved family. Segni founded a section of Catholic Action at university, befriended Piero Calamandrei, and served as an artillery officer in the Royal Italian Army during World War I. Segni joined the Italian People's Party in 1919 and joined its national council in 1923; after the rise of fascism, he became an academic. He cofounded Christian Democracy in 1943 and went on to serve in the Constituent Assembly from 1946 to 1948, in the Chamber of Deputies from 1948 to 1962, and in the Senate from 1964 to 1972. As Education Minister in the 1950s, he fought against illiteracy, and, as Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957 and from 1959 to 1960, he joined Italy to the United Nations in 1955, supported European integration, opposed an anti-communist legislative intervention after the Soviets' brutal repression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and oversaw social welfare reforms. He later served as President from 1962 to 1964, but he resigned after falling ill and died in 1972 while serving as a Senator-for-life.