The Good Adventure

This chapter examines how American sympathizers with fascism reacted against the prevailing culture of disillusionment in the wake of World War I. By 1922, they could tell Italy's story in a satisfying narrative arc, starting with despair and ending with redemption. According to their perceptions, Italians in 1920 were extreme embodiments of the modern mood. These observers argued that fascist squads excited senses numbed by the apathetic atmosphere left in the wake of the war. Richard Washburn Child and Herbert Schneider both suggested that fascist violence was not necessary for the suppression of communism. Anne O'Hare McCormick, by contrast, insisted that the fascists prevented a Bolshevik-style revolution in Italy. But whatever their position on the relationship between the biennio rosso and fascism, all three of these observers admired squadrist violence qua violence.