Saragat, Giuseppe, << SAH rah `gaht, ` joo ZEHP peh >> (1898-1988), served as president of Italy from 1964 to 1971. Parliament elected Saragat, a Socialist, after a bitter debate between liberal and conservative members.
Saragat joined the Socialist Party in 1922, and was a member of its executive committee by 1925. He represented the party in the cabinet formed in 1944. In 1946, he was named president of the Constituent Assembly that wrote a new constitution. Saragat broke with the Socialist Party in 1947 after it became connected with the Communist Party. He formed his own party, which later became the Democratic Socialist Party. He served as deputy premier from 1946 to 1948 and from 1954 to 1957. Saragat was born and educated in Turin.
