In 1929, he married Nerina Palestini, from San Benedetto del Tronto, from whom he had a daughter Maria Luisa, born in 1930. Early political career During the 1930s, he became a close friend of Alcide De Gasperi, former leader of the People's Party after Sturzo's exile. Along with De Gasperi, he collaborated in the drafting of the Reconstructive ideas of the Christian democracy, the first programmatic document of the future party, which was published in July 1943. Scelba was part of the committee which led the new party, known as Christian Democracy (DC), during the German occupation. He was also arrested by the Nazis, but he was released within three days. After the liberation of Rome in June 1944, he joined the executive committee of the new party. In the interregional congress of the DC, held in Naples on 29 and 30 July 1944, Scelba was elected to the party's national council, which appointed De Gasperi as new secretary. Scelba was instead appointed deputy secretary. In September 1943, Scelba as a Christian democrat, joined the National Liberation Committee (CLN), a political umbrella organization and the main representative of the Italian resistance movement fighting against the German occupation of Italy in the aftermath of the armistice of Cassibile. On 21 June 1945, Ferruccio Parri, leader of the Action Party, became the new Prime Minister and appointed Scelba as Minister of Mails and Telecommunications, a position that he would held until February 1947, even under the premiership of Alcide De Gasperi. On 25 September 1945, he was appointed in the National Council, the unelected legislative assembly established in the Kingdom of Italy after the end of war. In the 1946 general election, Scelba was elected in the Constituent Assembly for the constituency of Catania–Messina–Siracusa–Ragusa–Enna with nearly 40,000 votes. Minister of the Interior On 2 February 1947, Scelba became Minister of the Interior in the third government of Alcide de Gasperi, and remained in office until July 1953. During these years, Scelba was probably the most powerful man in the country, after De Gasperi. Having witnessed the Red Biennium and the violent fascist reaction, which caused the crisis of the liberal state and the subsequent formation of the dictatorship, Scelba was deeply convinced that the control of public order was necessary for the defense of the newly founded democratic and republican institutions; in fact, during all his tenure he was a strong advocate