Marco Russo
Marco Russo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 5th President of Lissatha | |
| In office August 18, 1882 – June 13, 1891 | |
| Vice President | Niko Papadakis |
| Preceded by | Ioannis Papiades |
| Succeeded by | Niko Papadakis |
| Lissathan Senator from Scapystus | |
| In office August 21, 1874 – August 18, 1882 | |
| Preceded by | Adolfo Oscuro |
| Succeeded by | Ezio Marino |
| 2nd Minister of Commerce and Industry | |
| In office August 19, 1864 – February 24, 1874 | |
| President | Nikos Martino (1864-1870) Alessio Calidora (1870-1874) |
| Preceded by | Nikos Daskalakis |
| Succeeded by | Stefanos Panagiotou |
| President of the Chamber | |
| In office August 28, 1858 – August 19, 1864 | |
| Preceded by | Office Established |
| Succeeded by | Constantine Marinos |
| Member of the Chamber of Representatives from Scapystus' 2nd district | |
| In office August 20, 1858 – August 19, 1864 | |
| Preceded by | Office Established |
| Succeeded by | Antonio Marconi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 22, 1806 Villa Serena, Scapystus, Lissatha |
| Died | June 13, 1891 Odiola, Mozoli, Lissatha |
| Political party | Republican Party (1876-1891) Republican-Federalist Party (1845-1876) |
| Spouse | Lucia Russo (m. 1835) |
| Children | 3, including Lorenzo, and Luca |
| Alma mater | Odiola University |
Marco Russo (April 22, 1806 − June 13, 1891) was a Lissathan statesman, lawyer, orator, politician and founding father who served as the fifth president of Lissatha from 1882 to 1891. Among the four co-fouders of the Republican-Federalist Party and a key member of the committee that drafted the Constitution of Lissatha. After the highly contentious 1876 election he formed the Republican Party, which would be one of two major Lissathan parties for the next hundred years.
Russo was born into a family of landowners and was initially skeptical of democratic movements. However, witnessing the plight of rural farmers and laborers in his region, Marco had a change of heart. He became a champion of agrarian reform, advocating for land redistribution and fair treatment of workers. He served as one of the most ideological voices in all of Lissathan politics. Historians often retroactively define him as the first populist politician to gain major support. From 1858 to 1864 he served as the first ever president of the Chamber of Representatives, and from 1864 to 1874 as Minister of Commerce and Industry. In 1876 he won the Republican-Federalist nomination for president, but Ioannis Papiades decided to run against him on the Federalist Party ticket, leading to the first seriously contested election in Lissathan history. Papiades' victory in the election and the Republican-Federalists notifying Russo he would not receive the nomination again in 1882 would lead to him forming the Republican Party as a vehicle for his 1882 presidential campaign.
Russo won the election in his second run in 1882, during his presidency he set and broke multiple precedents, and in 1888 he became the first president to run for reelection. During his presidency he took actions to address issues faced by farmers and union workers, throughout he held an isolationist foreign policy. He died in the middle of his second term in 1891, becoming the first President to die in office, being 85 years old at the time he remains the oldest president in Lissathan history to this day. After his death it was revealed that in 1883 he appointed his son Luca as diplomat to [insert country here] despite a complete lack of any of the experience required for the position, Russo then spent the next ten years partying in [insert country here], all of it being bankrolled by the federal government, this was a major scandal at the time and was devastating to his successor Niko Papadakis's reelection campaign. Despite this he is generally regarded by historians as being in the upper tier of presidents.
Early Life and Career
Marco Russo was born on April 22, 1806 at his families plantation in Villa Serena. The fifth child of Giuseppe Russo and Isabella Romano, who were both very wealthy landowners with distant ties to nobility. Early on in life, Russo developed an "affinity for the poor". Russo was an accomplished student and received high marks. In his teenage years he began reading the works of various enlightenment writers, as well as biographies of figures such as Luciano DiVincenzo, the leader of a 1400s peasant revolt, and Tomias Hapson, the first president of Zamastan. He began attending the prestigious Odiola University in 1824 and studied law there, in 1827 he met Nikos Martino and formed a lifelong friendship with him. He graduated top of his class later that year and was admitted to the Scapystus bar in 1828.
In 1845 Russo was invited by Martinos to a meeting of what was to become the Republican-Federalist Party, from there on Russo dedicated the next six years of his life to the ideals of democracy and federalism, using the money he inherited from his father to fund speaking tours across the country, Russo was the only southerner among the core members of the party, and it often rested upon him to gather support from southern farmers. He attempted to utilize his ties to the wealthy southern elite but his message was largely rejected due to the deeply entrenched interests of the class and their pro-monarchic tendencies.