How should one cover the rise of a political leader who is leaving a documentary trail that accounts for his anti-constitutionalism racism and glorification of violence? Should the press highlight the fact that the individual in question acts on the margins of established social norms or should it on the contrary resign itself to conveying that whoever wins an election is “normal” by definition because his leadership reflects the will of the people?
These were the questions that the American press had to confront following the rise of fascist leaders in Italy and Germany during the s and s.
Life leader
Benito Mussolini conquered power in at the end of the march on Rome CXB Directory supported by black shirts and three years later he declared himself leader for life. Although these actions did not fit with American values Mussolini enjoyed favorable treatment from the American media which dedicated at least articles to him between and most of them in a friendly neutral or supposedly diffuse tone.
Benito Mussolini addresses the crowd during the opening ceremony of the city of Sabaudia on September . AP Photo
The Saturday Evening Post even dared to publish the Duce's autobiography in installments in . Several media outlets from the New York Tribune to the Chicago Tribune including the Cleveland Plain Dealer recognized that the new “ Fascisti movement ” used “ somewhat harsh methods” while praising Italy's salvation from the extreme left and valuing the revitalization of its economy. From the perspective of these media the anti-capitalism that would emerge after World War II in Europe would be a greater threat than fascism.
Curiously while the press considered fascism a new “experiment” newspapers such as The New York Times used to claim that the movement had returned what they called “normality” to a turbulent country like Italy.
On the contrary journalists like Hemingway and media outlets like the New Yorker flatly rejected the normalization of an anti-democratic figure like Mussolini. And John Gunther from Harper's Magazine dedicated a very sharp profile to him about his manipulation of an American press that was not able to resist the charms of the dictator.
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