ABSTRACT
The newspapers were already publishing the names of his ministers when Benito Mussolini was preparing, in a tight-fitting frock coat and a top-hat, both borrowed from friends, to return to the Quirinal to present his program to the King and take his oath of office. Mussolini had made indirect overtures to the highly respected former Foreign Minister, by the time ambassador in Paris. Sforza replied with a telegram of resignation that the Roman newspapers printed on November 1. The powerful newspapers, however, busied themselves in drowning out their voices while every column supported "the Mussolini experiment" and contributed to the creation of the myth of "the exceptional man." The most important of the decisions made that night was the establishment of a Volunteer Militia for National Security, directly under Mussolini's orders and not taking an oath to the King. Mussolini's home was really a gloomy bachelor apartment crammed with gifts, amulets, a prie-Dieu, and a player-piano.
