Emilio Colombo (11 April 1920-24 June 2013) was Prime Minister of Italy from 6 August 1970 to 18 February 1972, succeeding Mariano Rumor and preceding Giulio Andreotti.
Biography[]
Emilio Colombo was born in Potenza, Basilicata, Italy in 1920, and he founded the first local section of Catholic Action in 1935 before becoming a lawyer in 1941. He served in the Royal Italian Army during World War II before joining Christian Democracy in 1943, and he became one of the Italian Parliament's youngest members on being elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946. He mediated clashes between Calabrian peasants in 1949, oversaw a massive US-backed land reform in 1947 that made agricultural laborers small entrepreneurs rather than subjects of large landowners, and, as Prime Minister from 1970 to 1972, pushed progressive legislation like housing reform and school-building. He also served as President of the European Parliament from 1977 to 1979 and as Foreign Minister from 1980 to 1983 and from 1992 to 1993. In 2003, he was made a senator for life, and he represented the For the Autonomies parliamentary group. He died in 2013.