Andreotti, Giulio (1919-2013), was an Italian politician. He was prime minister of Italy seven times between 1972 and 1992.
Andreotti was born on Jan. 14, 1919, in Rome. He took a law degree at Rome University in 1941 and in 1946 was elected to the Constituent Assembly, which drafted Italy’s first republican constitution. In 1948, he was elected to the new National Assembly as a Christian Democrat. The Christian Democratic Party, founded in 1942, was a center-right party supported by the Roman Catholic Church. From 1947 to 1972, Andreotti held a number of ministerial posts, including responsibility for finance, treasury, and defense. He served as prime minister in various coalition governments from 1972 to 1973, and again from 1976 to 1979. He served as foreign minister from 1983 to 1989. He returned to power as prime minister from 1989 to 1992.
In 1993, Andreotti was charged with having close links to the Mafia. In 1995, he was charged with involvement in the 1979 murder of a journalist. Andreotti spent years fighting the charges in the courts. In 2003, Italy’s highest court cleared him of involvement in the murder. In 2004, it cleared him of having ties to the Mafia. Andreotti died on May 6, 2013.
