The New York Times in the face of fascism

Abstract

The aim of this article is to understand how the New York Times, one of the most important US newspapers, explained the events that set off the ascent of fascism to power in Italy. In particular, I will focus on the period between the march on Rome, after which Mussolini became Prime Minister, and 1925–1926, when a dictatorial turning point, a consolidated position not only in Italian historiography, was imposed on the country. In fact, the march on Rome revealed Mussolini for the first time to the American newspapers (he was previously an almost unknown political entity in the United States), before the infamous speech at the House of Deputies on June 3, 1925, following the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti and the fascistissime laws passed shortly after marked the end of freedom and democracy in Italy. How did the New York Times correspondents explain these events? I answer this question analyzing the most significant articles dedicated to the topic and focusing on the political and ideological stand of the newspaper and on the factors that led it to support the fascist regime at least until the late 1930s.