Editing Mussolini: Il Duce's American Biographies on Paper and on Screen, 1922-1936.

Abstract

“Editing Mussolini: Il Duce’s American Biographies on Paper and on Screen, 1922-1936” uses an unexplored corpus of non-fiction texts (including Benito Mussolini’s own English-language editorials and American newsreels), along with published biographies, to argue that, between 1922 and 1936, American media established Mussolini as a political celebrity. In this interdisciplinary study, I position the American response to the Fascist dictator in relationship with prevailing cultural trends regarding biographical narration, personality studies, and oratorical performance. I explain Mussolini’s acclaim by considering it in the context of exemplary biographical experiences and personality traits of representative men of the American financial and political spheres. Il Duce’s biographical tales broadcast the attractive image of an efficient leader and a political model, a modernizer and an essential actor in world politics. Through the analysis of connections between the media and their financial backers, I further suggest that institutions such as J.P. Morgan favored Mussolini’s positive portrayal to profit from their involvement in Italian economy.