Lisbon, July 15,1944                    
 
                      Dear Ambassador,                      
 
                                                            
 
 
In November 1931, my wife and I had the privilege  
and the pleasure of being your guests in your lovely home in New York,   
during the unforgettable visit I paid as Italian Minister for Foreign   
Affairs, to the President of the United States, and to the Secretary of   
                    State in Washington.                    
 
                                                            
 
 
I have always cherished the recollection of how kind  
Mrs. Taylor and yourself were to us on that occasion and of the good   
friendship that you both showed to us. The invaluable encouragement that I   
received from you personally helped me greatly in making that visit a   
success. I returned to Italy not only with the hope, but also with the   
conviction that, aided as I had been by the frank support and by the   
general sympathy I had met with in the United States, I could have easily   
overcome all political difficulties at home, assuring on firm and solid   
bases that close understanding and far-reaching cooperation between Italy   
and the United States which had been the cornerstone of my foreign policy   
from the day I had been appointed Italian Foreign Minister. 
 
                                                            
 
 
I sincerely hope that the fateful events of these  
last years have not made you completely forget the relations of personal   
esteem and friendship that our happy meeting in New York had then   
established between us. This hope encourages me to write to you to-day. I   
feel that I must let you know a few things about events in Italy both   
before and after July 25th, and the part I played in them, as inaccurate   
       reports have been circulating on the subject.        
 
                                                            
 
 
As you will perhaps know, on January 10th, I have  
been condemned to death by Mussolini's expressed will together with the   
eighteen members of the Italian Grand council who in the night of July 24th,  
1943, brought about Mussolini's fall, and therefore laid the necessary   
premise for the armistice with the Allies. Five have already been executed.   
The sentence had been pronounced by an extra-ordinary court, created by   
the purpose, acting without any judicial guarantee and in open violation   
of the law. It has simply been a sinister and premeditated murder, and   
with it Mussolini has wanted to satisfy his personal vengeance against   
those who, acting within the frame of our Constitution, were instrumental   
freeing Italy from Fascist dictatorship and the German Allia
 
                                                            
 
 
I take the whole responsibility for what happened on  
the night of July 24-25th. I personally took the initiative of the action   
for Mussolini's overthrow, and obtained from the members of the Grand   
Council, through an elevenhour dramatic debate against Mussolini and his   
supporters, to approve a motion which I had prepared long time before and   
 meant a full condemnation of Mussolini's home and foreign p
 
                            The