MEMORANDUM OF A CONVERSATION WITH   
MARCHESE CARLO BASSANO   
UNDER-SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE   
AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY   
                     ON AUGUST 28, 1944                     
 
                                                            
 
 
A mutual friend suggested to me and to Marchese Bassano that it would be   
useful for us to have a conversation about Italian affairs.  Marchese   
Bassano came to the Embassy and we had a discussion which lasted an hour   
and three-quarters.  By profession he is an advocate, he is past middle-   
age and is a man of culture, refinement and means.  After the usual   
formalities he inquired what particular questions we would be most   
                       interested in.                       
 
                                                            
 
 
I promptly inquired as to the former Minister of Justice, Dino Grandi, and   
his relationship to the Fascist Party.  Some-what to my surprise he   
replied that Grandi had always been at open war with Mussolini and that   
they hated one and other, though Grandi was one of the original group in   
the so-called "March on Rome". This did not mean that Grandi was not loyal   
to the earlier principles of Fascism but that he became increasingly   
independent and less a follower of Fascism in its later and more extreme   
stages.  Grandi has been condemned to death by the Fascist Party for his   
conduct in ousting Mussolini in the last days of his regime and is a   
                    refugee from Italy.                     
 
                                                            
 
 
I asked regarding the composition of the Cabinet, particulary of Bonomi.    
His response in great detail was in substance that Bonomi was favored by   
all the leading party representatives in Italy and that his prestige had   
grown since his appointment, and that the members of the Cabinet   
represented not only Rome but other parts in Italy.  For example, the   
Minister of War comes from Milan and the Minister of Finance from Turin.    
He believed, of course, if members of the Cabinet prove to be ineffective,   
the process of change of individual members could be effected without   
disorganizing the Cabinet as a whole.  His considered opinion was tht the   
present Cabinet was competent, representative and energetic.
 
                                                            
 
 
There are six  Cabinet members without portfolio, among which is senator   
Conte Carlo Sforza.  Conte Sforza has been put in charge of the Political   
Division as respects the gathering of information, the arrest and trial of   
extreme   
                        Fascists....