NEW YORK’S POLITICOS PUT THEIR STAKES IN GRONCHI

TO CAPTURE THE ITALIAN AMERICAN VOTE

When I stuck my head out of the taxi this morning, wrapped in my cashmere scarf to fight the cold, I saw the Cristoforo Colombo.[1] She was gorgeous with her streamlined bow pointing upwards into the sky; white in a day whitened by frost and sunlight; so peaceful, moored at the friendly pier, unaware of the more than thousand people it was carrying; all happy to have arrived and yet sad to leave behind the warmth, the fine foods and the new friends they had just made onboard.

As inhabitants of this port city, we know the port gives us life. We know the outlines of the many ships that approach, blowing their sirens, helped by little hustling tug boats covered in icicles. All we need to identify them is a glimpse at the smokestacks. Their colors are like flags and we feel we almost hold them in our hands when they dock at the pier. They are our guests of honor and, whenever a newcomer arrives, the whole city of New York seems to take on a festive tone. Sirens wail; airplanes fly overhead; balloons float in the sky; newspapers have huge headlines and TV and radio stations fill the air with their broadcasts. Even priests sometimes mention the event in their sermons. There is happiness in the air and often the mayor himself comes to welcome the new arrival.

Welcome, ocean liner Colombo, for carrying new people to this land made of many people. Welcome for ferrying across the globe these hurried Americans, voluble, restless and eager to embrace new ideas and challenges. Welcome for representing Italian ingenuity, Italian cuisine, Italian hospitality and Italian unpredictability. You are our champion. Forget about politicians and ministers. A ship like you is the symbol of a nation that was able to design, build, equip, make comfortable and hospitable an industrial marvel and point it in the right direction at the right time. This is a real ambassador because it knows how to communicate and its reputation becomes the reputation of the country of origin. Those who travel to Italy will form here a first impression they will never forget and when they return they will be left with a last and lasting one. Ninety percent of the impressions Americans have about Italy are now shaped by the ocean liners that carry them. In this context we heard great news about Italian passenger ships on the Italy-America route: they are the second in the world by traffic volume and they are acquiring new routes around the world. This will enhance their visibility and status in the United States.

Meanwhile, the city’s politicians are waiting for president Gronchi with anticipation and some anxiety. This is an election year in the United States and maybe the Italian president is not fully aware that this is the most exciting game and the most important lottery in America. The fortunes of the two parties are rejuvenated at the prospect of distributing a handful of plum jobs worth a hundred thousand dollars a year as well as thousands and thousands of lesser jobs worth much less, sometimes so little that they are barely enough to live by. But everybody is out to get something for himself/herself in this game and all is grist for the electoral mill.

As soon as the visit of the president of Italy was announced the city’s politicos hurried to picture him as the president of Italian Americans, or, at least, of those among them who bother to vote. Meetings have been held in private offices in the skyscrapers overlooking Central Park and lunches in clubs overlooking the harbor. Everybody is asking the same questions: who will win the race to be the first in line to greet Italy’s president; and who will appear with him in the right photos with the usual say-cheese faces and the one-more-time handshakes? Those photos; the printed programs with the list of names; the mention of the seat of honor at the inevitable banquets, or the chairmanship of an honorary committee aren’t just ink stains on useless pieces of paper. They are true electoral IOUs. They convince the little voter who still can’t read English newspapers that the old country is represented in America by such and such party and such and such politician. Past Italian governments have given legitimacy to local authorities in this manner, and they, in turn, spent it on the local political market. Everyone knows that in politics selling illusions on the market for power is an essential function.

All these things would be tolerable if they were limited to awarding cheap, meaningless medals. Instead, they also touch and effect American interests. In the off-years, when no elections are held, nobody pays attention to these ceremonies, and the gratifications they dispense are purely personal. But this year the competition is fierce and the bets even involve the health of the American president’s heart.[2] Thus, any little preference for one candidate instead of another could be wrongly interpreted. It so happens that the [Republican] party, currently in power in Washington, is the party less favored by Italian Americans; at least by those who live on the eastern seaboard. It is a problem that complicates things for the Italian president. Italy, as a nation, could pay the price for unknowingly favoring one party and offending the other. But it is a problem that could be solved by relying on other forces, outside the sphere or partisan politics.

New York, February 12, 1958