Aldo Moro was a popular politician in Italy whose 1978 kidnapping by the Red Brigades became an international cause. Heads of state rebuked the Marxist terrorist group who were holding this five-time prime minister hostage; the Brigades called for the release of political prisoners in Italy in exchange for Moro's life. Fifty-five days after the abduction, Moro's body was found in the trunk of a car parked on a busy street in Rome. It was one of 2,395 acts of terrorism in Italy that year alone.

Moro was born in 1916 in Lecce. His mother was a teacher, and his father worked for the Italian ministry of public instruction as an inspector. Aldo was sometimes teased by other children because of his weight but earned good grades and went on to study law at the University of Bari. A devout Catholic, he was an active member of the Federazione Universitaria Cattolica...