Italy: Rumor Has It

Italy found itself with a new government last week, its 27th since 1945 and quite possibly its most unwieldy. Incoming Premier Mariano Rumor named 27 Cabinet members, a postwar record. They will be supported by perhaps as many as 57 under secretaries (up from 40), vying for cars, chauffeurs, parking spaces and all the other perquisites of office. There were reasons for the glut. Rumor was intent on maintaining as broad a base of political support as possible, and his crowded Cabinet represented nearly every faction in his lumpy Center-Left government. Despite...