NO MORE HANDSHAKING OR HAT TIPPING IN ITALY
Rome, Italy (JFK+50) On December 9, 1925, The Evening Star reports "handshaking and hat-tipping have been officially abolished throughout Italy."
All public employees as well as school children will be required to "greet their superiors and each other with...an upraised (fascisti) salute as was the practice in ancient Rome."
Premier Benito Mussolini sees this requirement as "visible evidence" that all of Italy "is now Fascist" and will prove "conducive to better work."
JFK+50 NOTE
Art historians trace the Fascist salute to the 1784 painting (see below) by Jacques-Louis David. The salute (right arm fully extended forward & upward with palm facing downward, fingers touching) was soon adopted in Nazi Germany with the spoken words added 'Heil Hitler!'
SOURCE
"Mussolini Taboos Handshaking and Doffing of Hats," The Evening Star, December 9, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
