Abstract

The American newspapers had taken an interest in the Fiume crisis especially after that President Wilson openly expressed his support for the Yugoslav cause in 1919. Albeit for different reasons, some of the most authoritative newspapers embraced the Wilson’s pro-Slavic stances and published unfavorable articles about the Fiume situation. The «New York Times» sarcastically epitomized Fiume as an «Happy city» in which the legionaries, portrayed as layabouts and bandits, were having a whale of a time. In other cases, these newspapers fueled the suspicious that d’Annunzio’s adventure ceiled Bolshevik objectives provoking hostile feelings toward him in a public opinion already upset by the red scare. On the other hand, some New York minor newspapers as «The Sun», the «Herald» and the «Tribune» along with a substantial part of the Italo-American community advocated the cause of d’Annunzio by organizing supportive events and rallies. However, these voices remained largely unheard and failed in changing public opinion already oriented by the major newspapers.