A Quote by Christopher Hitchens

Benito Mussolini had barely seized power in Italy before the Vatican made an official treaty with him, known as the Lateran Pact of 1929. Under the terms of this deal, Catholicism became the only recognized religion in Italy, with monopoly powers over matters such as birth, marriage, death, and education, and in return urged its followers to vote for Mussolini's party. Pope Pius XI described II Duce (“the leader”) as “a man sent by providence.”

Christopher Hitchens

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Barely Became Before Birth Catholicism Deal Death Education Followers Had Him Italy Known Leader Made Man Marriage Matters Monopoly Monopoly Power Mussolini Official Only Over Pact Party Pope Power Powers Providence Recognized Religion Return Sent Terms Treaty Vatican Vote

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Christopher Hitchens
American - Author
April 13, 1949 - December 15, 2011

In 1954, Pope Pius XI, of all people, sent some Vatican delegates on a trip to Libya with these written instructions: "Do NOT think that you are going among Infidels. Muslims attain salvation, too. The ways of Providence are infinite.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal. It was Mussolini's success in Italy, with his government-directed economy, that led the early New Dealers to say "But Mussolini keeps the trains running on time.

Ronald Reagan

We seem to be a long way off from the kind of Fascism which we behold in Italy today, but we are not so far from the kind of Fascism which Mussolini preached in Italy before he assumed power, and we are slowly approaching the conditions which made Fascism there possible.

John T. Flynn

Max Askeli was a very courageous, principled man up to a point. He had left Italy before he was thrown in jail by [Francesco] Mussolini.

Nat Hentoff

I think in many ways, the Spanish Civil War was the first battle of World War II. After all, where else in the world at this point did you have Americans in uniform who were being bombed by Nazi planes four years before the U.S. entered World War II? Hitler and Mussolini jumped in on the side of Francisco Franco and his Spanish nationalists, sent them vast amounts of military aid, airplanes, tanks - and Mussolini sent 80,000 ground troops as well - because they wanted a sympathetic ally in power. So I think it really was the opening act of World War II.

Adam Hochschild

Italy hasn't had a government since Mussolini.

Richard M. Nixon

I believe in the Italy of municipalities, of the Renaissance, not in Mussolini's centralization.

Matteo Salvini

I'm a federalist. I believe in the Italy of municipalities, of the Renaissance, not in Mussolini's centralization.

Matteo Salvini

I have an enduring, very robust infatuation with dictators. I have an infatuation with Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini. In the Paris Review interview I did (in 2013), I said my next book, this one, was going to be about Mussolini. I wound up only having a Mussolini cameo in the book.

Mark Leyner

Obviously the government of [Mussolini's] time, out of fear that German power might lead to complete victory, preferred to ally itself with Hitler's Germany rather than opposing it. The racial laws were the worst fault of Mussolini as a leader, who in so many other ways did well.

Silvio Berlusconi

The reason I emphasize that is because that is exactly what happened when Mussolini was put in by the king of Italy.

Guido Calabresi

As for international understanding, I feel that macaroni has done more for our appreciation of Italy than Mussolini.

Lin Yutang

The British had an even stronger [then America] business interest in Nazi Germany. And Benito Mussolini was greatly admired.

Noam Chomsky

Hitler decided that Mussolini must be freed from the Italian Partisans because Benito was his friend and had acted in good faith.

Otto Skorzeny

Italian women are some of the most beautiful in the world. This is why the Vatican is in Italy. If a man can walk across Italy and retain his celibacy, he's got what it takes to be a priest - or an interior decorator.

Craig Ferguson

Hitler did not have Mussolini's revolutionary socialist background... Nevertheless, he shared the socialist hatred and contempt for the 'bourgeoisie' and 'capitalism' and exploited for his purposes the powerful socialist traditions of Germany. The adjectives 'socialist' and 'worker' in the official name of Hitler's party ('The Nationalist-Socialist German Workers' Party') had not merely propagandistic value... On one occasion, in the midst of World War II, Hitler even declared that 'basically National Socialism and Marxism are the same.'

Richard Pipes

A Quote by Christopher Hitchens

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