U.S. intervention in Italy’s 1948 election secured decades of base access.

Evidence

In some cases, U.S. officials have reacted to this unpredictability by intervening in ostensibly democratic processes to produce outcomes to their liking and ensure ongoing base access. In the lead-up to Italy’s crucial 1948 national elections, for instance, the CIA, the State Department, and other agencies of the U.S. government used propaganda, smear campaigns, threats to withdraw aid, and the appearance of warships off Italy’s coasts, among other tactics, to help the Christian Democracy party defeat Italy’s favored communist and socialist parties. The Christian Democrats, who maintained a client relationship with the U.S. government and provided widespread base access, then dominated Italian politics for the next five decades. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 304

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 304