Francesco Cossiga

President of Italy

Francesco Maurizio Cossiga 26 July 1928 Sassari, Kingdom of Italy

17 August 2010(2010-08-17) (82) Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic, Rome, Lazio, Italy

3 July 1985 – 28 April 1992 Acting: 29 June 1985 – 3 July 1985

8th president of Italy Francesco Maurizio Cossiga, OMRI (Italian pronunciation:  , Sardinian:  ; 26 July 1928 – 17 August 2010) was an Italian politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Party of Italy, he was the prime minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980 and the eighth president of Italy from 1985 to 1992. Cossiga is widely considered one of the most prominent and influential politicians of the First Republic. Cossiga also served as minister on several occasions, most notably as Minister of the Interior. In that position he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. Due to his repressive approach to public protests, he has been described as a strongman and labeled "Iron Minister". He was in office at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades, and resigned as Minister of the Interior when Moro was found dead in 1978. Cossiga was Prime Minister during the Bologna station bombing in 1980. Before his political career, Cossiga was a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.