Obituaries : G. Saragat, 89; a Founder of Italian Social Democrats

Giuseppe Saragat, a

grand old man of Italian politics who fought Fascism and helped found the postwar republic, serving as its fifth president, died early Saturday at the age of 89.

Saragat, a founder of the Social Democrat Party, died at his house in Rome, a party official said.

Along with Socialist Sandro Petrini, 91, another former president, Saragat was the last of the anti-Fascist leaders who battled to restore democracy to Italy. Saragat became the fifth president of the Italian Republic in 1964. After he left office in 1971, he served as president of his party.

In 1922, at the age of 24, Saragat joined the Socialist Party but left Italy after Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini came to power the same year. Saragat fled to Austria and then in 1926 to St.-Gaudens, France.

He returned to Italy after the Italian armistice with the Allies in 1943 and was arrested for anti-Fascist activity. He escaped, was recaptured and escaped a second time together with Sandro Petrini, who also later became president.

After the liberation, Saragat served in turn as minister without portfolio, ambassador to France and president of the Constituent Assembly, which wrote the new republic’s constitution.

He broke with the Socialists in 1947 and helped found the Socialist Party of Italian Workers, which later became the Social Democrat Party. As secretary of the new party, Saragat built it into a staunchly pro-Western and anti-Communist leftist force.

He was later elected to Parliament four times as a Social Democrat and championed radical reforms in housing, medical care, education and taxation.

“The republic loses in Giuseppe Saragat a central figure in the fight against Fascism and Stalinism,” said Premier Ciriaco De Mita, leader of the Christian Democrats.

Saragat was born Sept. 19, 1898, in the northern industrial city of Turin. He obtained a university degree in economics and commerce. While a bank clerk, he wrote for a newspaper and turned out political books.

Saragat, who was fond of Roman philosophers, was known for his gentle and easy-going manner. He was so relaxed about politics that he often put its difficult maneuverings second to lively literary conversation on his favorite authors, Goethe and Pascal.

He once told a political leader who had waited for a long time to see him: “I am sorry for keeping you waiting so long, but I was engaged in a talk with (Nobel Prize-winning poet Salvatore) Quasimodo. Poetry should come before politics sometimes, don’t you think?”

Saragat is survived by a daughter, Ernestina Santacatterina, and a son, Giovanni. A funeral was scheduled for Monday.