The U.S. Foreign Service in Italy and the Byington Family Consular Dynasty in Naples (1897-1973)

Through the analysis of new primary sources, this thesis casts light on the long-term relationships formed between American Foreign Service officers and exponents of the Italian aristocracy, mostly in the period of 1933 to 1950. These relationships lie outside the official narrative constructed in diplomatic dispatches and constitute a missing element in the historiography of bilateral relations between Italy and the United States. The material in the new primary sources, in particular, The Sum of Perishable Things, a biography of the Foreign Service officer Homer M. Byington Jr. written by his son, has been corroborated through archival research at the National Archives (NARA). Byington Jr. was the final member of the “dynasty” formed by his family at the U.S. Consulate General in Naples which lasted from 1897 to 1973. At its heart, this thesis serves as a history of the U.S. Foreign Service in Italy. The reconstruction of the milieu inhabited by the diplomats also appeals to students of social history and foreign policy, especially with regard to the mindset developed by diplomats assigned to a country with the status of “minor ally” under the NATO umbrella. Focusing on the diplomats allows the researcher to read between the lines of official documents which often convey an incomplete reconstruction of conversations and events. The research reveals the existence, in the case of Homer M. Byington Jr., of a diplomat who adapted the mindset and lifestyle of the host nation but was charged with representing the interests of the United States government. The thesis contributes new information to the historiographical debate on bilateral relations through personal testimony of Foreign Service officers who served in both Fascist and post-war Italy. In 1897, the 71 year-old Aaron Homer Byington, a newspaper man from Norwalk, Connecticut, was named U.S. Consul to Naples. Since consuls were expected to finance the operation of the consulate, Byington decided to bring his grandson Homer M. Byington I, aged 18, to work with him. During this 10 year period in Naples, young Homer established friendships with the younger generation of large landowners and businessmen in the area. Young Homer eventually managed the consulate when his grandfather was away, and became the Chief of Personnel of the Foreign Service in 1929. It was in this capacity that he sent his son (the FSO Homer M. Byington Jr.) to work in Naples in 1933, thus continuing the family tradition. In fact, Homer Jr. had been born in the city in 1908 and became fluent in Italian during his childhood. From 1934 onward Homer Jr. established ties to the heir to the Italian throne, Prince Umberto of Piedmont and his Belgian wife, the Princess Maria José. Due to his particular upbringing, Homer Jr. lacked a full understanding of American social customs and was initially favorable to fascism. By 1938, however, he had turned against Mussolini and listened to Italians who were plotting to overthrow the dictator in September of that year. Homer Jr. became the Foreign Service’s foremost expert on Italy in the early years of the Cold War. He was second-in-command at the Rome embassy under James Dunn at the time of the Marshall Plan and the Italian elections of 1948. In this period he worked on a personal level with Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, Interior Minister Mario Scelba and other important officials. In short, in the State Department Byington played a role with respect to Italy that was similar to that executed by his colleagues Charles Bohlen and George Kennan regarding the Soviet Union. From 1950 to 1953, he attempted to broker a solution to the dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia over the future of Trieste. Then, in 1962, he returned again to Naples where he maintained contacts with reactionary Italian military elements, some of whom were later identified as responsible for the botched Borghese coup d’état of December 1970.