Alcide De Gasperi was born on the 3rd of April 1881 in Pieve Tesino, a small village nestled high in the Tyrol mountains. This region had been part of Austria-Hungary for more than five hundred years before becoming Italian territory after World War I.
Authorities arrested Alcide De Gasperi along with other protesting students during the inauguration of the new law school in Innsbruck in 1904. He remained imprisoned for twenty days before being released, an experience that shaped his lifelong commitment to protecting minority cultures within larger empires.
Alcide De Gasperi led eight successive coalition governments as prime minister from December 1945 until August 1953. This eight-year tenure remains a landmark of political longevity for any modern Italian leader.
American authorities supported Alcide De Gasperi because they feared that a left-wing coalition victory would draw Italy into the Soviet sphere of influence following the February 1948 Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. The Central Intelligence Agency funneled black bag contributions totaling two million dollars to Christian Democratic candidates with approval from President Harry S. Truman.
Alcide De Gasperi signed the Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement reached in September 1946 with Austria. This accord established his home region of South Tyrol as an autonomous area protecting Italian cultural rights.
Alcide De Gasperi died suddenly on the 19th of August 1954 in Sella di Valsugana within his beloved Trentino region. State funeral arrangements were necessary because he died with almost no personal means despite decades of public service.