GIUSEPPE SARAGAT was born in Turin on 19 September 1898 and died in Rome on 11 June 1988. He took part in the First World War and on his return he graduated in Economics and Commerce from Turin University. He joined the PSU Party founded by Turati and Matteotti, and wrote for La Giustizia and Quarto Stato. When the leadership of the PSU, of which he was a member, moved abroad because of Fascist oppression, he went to Austria and worked to reunify the Socialist Party there. In 1934, jointly with Pietro Nenni, he signed the first action pact with the exiled Italian Communist Party in Paris. In August 1943, he refounded the Socialist Party in Rome, and became a member of the Executive of the party. In November 1943 he was arrested with Sandro Pertini and was detained in the Regina Coeli Prison in Rome. But both men managed to escape. After the liberation of Rome, he was a member of the first Bonomi government as Minister-without-portfolio. In April 1945 he was appointed Ambassador to France. On 2 June 1946 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly, and was appointed President, but he resigned on 12 January 1947 after the split in the Socialist Party. After this split, the PSLI was founded, and then the PSDI which he led for many years. In December that same year he joined the 4th De Gasperi government as Deputy Prime Minister. He was elected MP uninterruptedly in the first four parliaments. In August 1957 he laid the foundations for the future unification of the Socialists jointly with Pietro Nenni. In the first two Centre-Left Moro governments, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs until his election as President of the Republic, on 28 December 1964. He was sworn in and delivered his Address to Parliament on 29 December 1964. After completing the seven-year Presidential term he became a Life Senator on 29 December 1971, while continuing his political activities in the reconstituted PSDI party, firstly as President (1975) and then as Secretary (1976) and eventually Life President.