Letters From America and the 1948 Elections in Italy

In response to appeals from Italian-American leaders, a large number of Americans of Italian descent wrote to friends and relatives in Italy, urging them to vote against the Communist candidates in the 1948 elections. While the effectiveness of these letters in influencing voters in Italy cannot be assessed accuratey, there is no question about the effetiveness of the campaign to persudde Italican-Americans to write. In Elmira, New York, it was found that 87 per cent of the Italian community had heard the appeal and that 42 per cent of the families queried had sent letters. While older, Italian-born citizens were most likely to write, it was found that younger, American-born members of the community also responded out of loyalty to their local institutions and interest in international affairs. Miss Martinez is a former graduate student in Sociology at Cornell University. Dr. Suchman is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Social Science Research Center at Cornell University.