Italy 1948 Part 2

Ninotchka (1/10) Movie CLIP - Don't Make An Issue of My Womanhood (1939) HD
A couple of weeks ago I posted a bit about werewolves and the defeat of the Communist Party in the 1948 elections in Italy. Today we have a post by Scott Grønmark about Greta Garbo and James Angleton and the same event.

The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton

"Angleton... interrupted one embassy meeting in Rome in early 1948 to ask Ambassador James Dunn if he might offer an idea...
"I thought," he began mischievously, "we might take advantage of one of America's greatest natural resources: Greta Garbo...I realise she once belonged to another country," Angleton said, "but I believe by now we're justified in claiming her as our own. So I suggest we import one of her best pictures. " he paused. "I'd like to expose the Italians to Ninotchka."...
Ninotchka... was a comedy in which Garbo spoofed Stalinist Russia. The ambassador ratified Angleton's proposal on the spot. Actually,  Angleton wasn't the only wise guy with this idea. The Hollywood studios had printed extra copies of Ninotchka and made special arrangements to show the film in Italy as a way of contrasting golden America with ravaged Russia. At the end of the meeting, Agleton supposedly quipped , "Miss Garbo will prove a most lethal secret weapon."
And so she did. The Christian Democrats emerged from the election of April 1948 with 48% of the vote and an absolute majority in parliament."

So was it Greta's light touch, or the CIA's heavy hand that tipped the election? Hard to tell at this distance which one had a larger effect.