Giovanni Leone

Giovanni Leone (1908 to 2001) was an Italian jurist, university professor and Christian Democrat politician who served as President of Italy from 1971 to 1978. Born in Naples, he graduated in law from the University of Naples Federico II in 1929, worked in the law firm of Enrico De Nicola, taught criminal procedure at the University of Camerino and later at Messina, Bari and Naples, and became one of the best known lawyers and jurists of southern Italy. During the Second World War he served as a magistrate of the military court of Naples. Elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946, he sat as a prominent jurist on the commission that drafted the republican constitution, then served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1955 to 1963 and briefly as Prime Minister in 1963 and 1968. He resigned the presidency in 1978 amid the Lockheed bribery accusations, which were later declared false and for which he was rehabilitated.