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Antonio Martino
Antonio Martino at The Pentagon in July 2005
Minister of Defence
In office
11 June 2001 – 17 May 2006
Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi
Preceded bySergio Mattarella
Succeeded byArturo Parisi
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
10 May 1994 – 17 January 1995
Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi
Preceded byLeopoldo Elia
Succeeded bySusanna Agnelli
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
15 April 1994 – 22 March 2018
ConstituencySicily
Personal details
Born(1942-12-22)22 December 1942
Messina, Kingdom of Italy
Died5 March 2022(2022-03-05) (aged 79)
Rome, Italy
Political partyPLI (1968–1994)
FI (1994–2009)
PdL (2009–2013)
FI (2013–2022)
SpouseCarol Erickson
Alma materUniversity of Messina
University of Chicago
ProfessionTeacher, economist

Antonio Martino (22 December 1942 – 5 March 2022) was an Italian politician. A founding member of Forza Italia, he served as the minister of foreign affairs in 1994 and minister of defense from 2001 to 2006.

Life and career

Born in Messina, he was the son of Gaetano Martino (1900–1967), the Foreign Minister of Italy from 1954 to 1957 and prominent member of the Italian Liberal Party (PLI).[1]

Martino earned a J.D. in Jurisprudence from the University of Messina Law School in 1964, then went on to the University of Chicago for postgraduate studies in Economics from 1966 to 1968, where he was a student of Milton Friedman.[1] After graduation he started his career as Visiting Professor at the Rome Center of Loyola University Chicago.[1] After becoming a professor in 1976 Martino worked at the University of Messina, University of Bari, University of Naples and Sapienza University of Rome.[1]

A member of the Italian Parliament, he was first elected in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996 and 2001.[1] He ran for PLI secretary in the mid-1980s but was unsuccessful.[2]

From 1992, Martino was a professor of economics in the political science department at the LUISS University of Rome.[1][3] Since 1978 he was the Adjunct Scholar at The Heritage Foundation and an editorial board member of the Cato Journal from 1990.[1] He wrote 11 books and over 150 papers and articles in the fields of economic theory and policy.[1] He was a regular contributor to a variety of Italian and foreign periodicals and newspapers as well as Italian and international television and radio programmes.[2] He worked as an editorial writer for a number of Italian newspapers (La Stampa, Il Sole 24 Ore, Mondo economico, L'Opinione, Il Giornale, Quotidiano Nazionale Nazione-Giorno-Carlino), and his bi-line has appeared in international publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Times, Le Figaro, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, The American Spectator, Economic Affairs, and others.[1]

In 1988–1990, Martino was President of the Mont Pelerin Society.[4] During the 1990's, he wrote a book in Italian, Stato Padrone, in which he set out his free-market ideas.[2]

He was one of the founders of Forza Italia.[5][1] He was the minister of Foreign Affairs in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (1994–95) and the minister of Defense when Berlusconi returned to power (2001–2006).[2] Martino was very close to Michael Ledeen.[6][further explanation needed]

In 2004 he was the main promoter for the suspending compulsory military service, formally decided already in 2001, but which was to begin in 2007: consequently the suspension came into effect indefinitely on 1 January 2005 (Martino Law), and furthermore granted exemption to all those who had in the past obtained postponements of service on grounds such as study.[citation needed] Additionally, he backed the a speedier transformation of the armed forces into a body of professional volunteers.[citation needed]

Martino was also the Secretary of the Italy-USA Foundation's Scientific Committee.[2] In 2005, he was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service by the United States Department of Defense.[1]

Martino was married and had two daughters.[1] He died in Rome on 5 March 2022, at the age of 79.[3]

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References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Senator Antonio Martino". Atlantic Partnership. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Martino tapped FI president candidate". ANSA. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Farewell to former minister Antonio Martino, he was 79 years old". The Observational. 5 March 2022. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Past Presidents | MPS". Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Morto l'ex ministro e fondatore di Forza Italia Antonio Martino". HuffPost Italia (in Italian). 5 March 2022. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  6. ^ Unger, Craig (July 2006). "The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed: The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. As much of Washington knew, and the world soon learned, the charge was false. Worse, it appears to have been the cornerstone of a highly successful "black propaganda" campaign with links to the White House. (page 7)". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2021.

Further reading

External links

Political offices Preceded byLeopoldo Elia Minister of Foreign Affairs 1994–1995 Succeeded bySusanna Agnelli Preceded bySergio Mattarella Minister of Defence 2001–2006 Succeeded byArturo Parisi
Italian Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Berlusconi I Cabinet (1994โ€“95)
Berlusconi II Cabinet (2001โ€“05)
Berlusconi III Cabinet (2005โ€“06)
Authority control databases
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