Word: duces
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Latin fancy was fired. Swiftly he put aside his other mistresses,* enthroned Claretta ina resident villa linked by private phone to the Palazzo Venezia. The new favorite flaunted her power. She managed the Duce's fan mail, dragged him on shopping tours, hired & fired officeholders in what Corriere della Sera called the manner of a "second-rate Maintenon," responsible for the "intellectual degradation of her passionate friend...
Infatuated Benito Mussolini often followed Claretta's counsel on foreign policy. During the Spanish Civil War General Francisco Franco petitioned Rome for two more divisions. "What shall I do?" the Duce asked his paramour. "Bimbo," she replied, "do send the divisions. General Franco is so simpatico." When the time came to attack Greece, Claretta approved because the Greek Ambassador had snubbed her at diplomatic receptions...
...Petacci family prospered, moved to a palace on Monte Mario. Claretta's physician brother became well-to-do. Claretta's mother became unofficial autocrat of Italian movies. Her sister Maria pleased the Duce, too. She became a radio and film star...
Benito Mussolini's last interview as Duce was published last week. * On June 6, a month and a half before his downfall, Il Duce talked to a correspondent of Lugano's Carriere del Ticino, a minor Swiss, Italian-language newspaper. He was suffering from stomach ulcers, appeared lean and sad. But, above all, he seemed anxious to justify his great mistake...
...years the Duce averaged six a month, roughly 1,300 interviews...