Word: duces
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Party's strong men had striven, ever since the swift collapse of the Axis in Tunisia (TIME, June 21), to sandbag and shore up their structure. On June 24, before an emergency meeting of the Fascist Party Directorate, the aging Duce had spoken privately. Now, almost on the eve of the Allied invasion, Mussolini's words were broadcast to his people...
...Duce promised over & over a cleanup of black marketeers, an increase in "fundamental rations-bread, alimentary paste and fats," a closing down of "luxury hotels where certain evacuees often behave scandalously...
...prestige he once held among those who thought he was un jurbo (an astute fellow), or among the trusting who believed that, regardless of his Party's corruption, Mussolini had the best interests of his people at heart. One story indicated the Italian's cynicism: The Duce was not satisfied with the reports he was getting on his last speech and decided to make a personal checkup. He put on a beard and wandered in the streets until he met a likely looking citizen. "Buon giorno," said the Duce, "and how did you like the Duce...
Recently there were signs that others were not so impressed with the Duce's doings. Editors, including the intellectual apologist Giuseppe Bottai, stayed in office despite criticisms of the Fascist regime unheard of before the war. Bottai used an oblique technique of presenting "demands from the soul of Italy," for which he personally would take no responsibility. One of these demands was for "competent political government, inspired as far as possible by a sincere desire to serve," another for "more vigorous progress toward social justice...
Rebellious Albania might be the least of Il Duce's worries, but it was the most chronic. A people whose "nationalism does not whisper because their country is small," the Albanians had never accepted the Fascist conquest of 1939. Now patriot resistance, fanned by new hope, was mounting. It could be measured by Rome's frantic hunt for a popular puppet leader. For Prime Minister in Tirana Mussolini chose tricky, turncoat Ekrem Libohova, once ex-King Zog's Foreign Minister. This was Albania's fourth "government...