1. Biography

2. Legacy

3. References

Biography

Rumor earned a degree from the University of Padua in Letters in 1939, and was a teacher at an Italian liceo until his mobilization as a lieutenant in the Italian Army during the Second World War. Subsequent to the Armistice of Cassibile in 1943 between Italy and the Allied powers, Rumor joined the Italian resistance movement. After the end of the war he joined the Christian Democrats as an organizer, and became a representative of the centrist faction of DC in 1963 after attracting the attention of Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.^[2]

During his periods as Prime Minister, a number of progressive reforms were carried out. A law of 11 December 1969 extended access to higher education to all students holding a higher secondary school diploma (formerly limited to students who came from classical (and in some cases, scientific) curricula. A law of 30 April 1969 introduced broad provisions covering pensions under the general scheme. The multiplying coefficient was increased to 1.85%, applied to average earnings of the best 3 years in the last 5 years of work (maximum pension, after 40 years of contribution: 74% of previous earnings). A social pension was also introduced for people over the age of 65 with low incomes and not eligible for any type of pension. In addition, cost of living indexation for all pensions (with the exception of social pensions) was introduced. A law of 2 February 1970 extended earnings replacement benefits to artisan undertakings in the construction industry. Under a law of 2 March 1974, the legal minimum for pensions was raised to 27.75% of the average industrial wage for 1973. A law of 16 July 1974 extended family allowances to INPS pensioners, in lieu of child supplements. A law of August 1974 extended hospital assistance to all those not previously covered by any scheme.^[3]

Rumor's coalition governments, of which there were four, consisted of mostly the same parties. From December 1968 to July 1969, the DC joined with the Italian Socialist Party as well as the Italian Republican Party. Then, from August 1969 to February 1970 he led a DC-only government; its collapse led to a 45 day long period without government, with issues such as Italian divorce law and the status of the Italian Communist Party generating instability. After this period, which included an attempt by former Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani to form a government, Rumor led a new coalition with the Socialist, Republican, and Democratic Socialist parties from March until July 1970.^[4] After three years under Emilio Colombo and Giulio Andreotti's ministries, Rumor returned to the office of Prime Minister, first leading a DC, Socialist, Republican, and Democratic Socialist coalition from July 1973 to March 1974. After this government collapsed, Rumor formed a new coalition within two weeks, calling upon the Socialists and Democratic Socialists to join with DC from March until October 1974.^[5][6]

Weathering a cabinet resignation in June of 1974, Rumor's final cabinet - the 36th in the history of post-war Italy - would fall in October 1974 after failing to come to an agreement on how to deal with rising economic inflation.^[7][8]

In 1973, then-Interior Minister Mariano Rumor was attacked by Gianfranco Bertoli, a self-described anarchist. Four were killed during the bombing, and 45 injured, while Rumor escaped alive from it. Bertoli was given a life-term in 1975. Bertoli was an informant of SISMI, or the Military Intelligence and Security Service, at the time. Court proceedings later showed that this connection was one of mistaken identity.^[9]

Rumor would later go on to be elected to the European Parliament in 1979. He was later elected Chair of the Political Affairs Committee in 1980, serving in that capacity until he left the European Parliament in 1984.^[10]

Legacy

In the years since his death, Rumor's legacy has been widely debated. The Lockheed bribery scandals, of which Rumor was exonerated by the Italian Parliament, took place under his government and culminated in the trials of two former Defense ministers, Luigi Gui and Mario Tanassi.^[11] Rumor was implicated in the scandal after a Lockheed codebook referenced "Antelope Cobbler" as "Prime Minister", which could have been any of Rumor, Aldo Moro, or then-President Giovanni Leone during the relevant time period. While Leone later resigned from the Presidency due to accusations of corruption, none of the three men were ever convicted of being "Antelope Cobbler".^[12][13]

Others have criticized his Presidential Decree No. 1092, a measure which allowed Italian governmental workers to retire after nineteen and a half years of work or fourteen and a half years if they were a woman; such retirees were later termed "baby pensioners" by detractors. The program, instituted in 1973, was terminated in 1992. As of 2014 it was estimated that around half a million pensioners who benefited from the decree were still drawing an average of €1,500 per month.^[14]

References

• The Man Who Never Was (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
• The Man Who Never Was (TV series)
• The Man Who Pays The Piper
• The Man Who (play)
• The Man Who Played God
• The Man Who Played God (1922 film)
• The Man Who Ploughed the Sea
• The Man Who Returned to Life
• The Man Who Rocked the Earth
• The Man Who Saved the World
• The Man Who Saved the World (film)
• The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1922 film)
• The Man Whose Mind Exploded
• The Man Whose Mind Exploded (2012)
• The Man Whose Mind Exploded (film)
• The Man whose Pharynx was bad
• The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (stage play)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
• The Man Who Sold Himself
• The Man Who Sold Himself (Gavin Harrison & 05Ric album)
• The man who sold the Eiffel Tower
• The Man who Sold the Moon
• The man who sold the moon
• The Man Who Sold the World (song)