The shock of Sonny’s murder exemplified Vito’s leadership strengths. The pain that he experienced (and that Brando portrayed so superbly) instantly made him see that the number-one, all-consuming priority for the family was to bring Michael back safely from Sicily, at almost any cost.

The first thing he said, “I want no inquiries made,” was his most important strategic move, because it supported his immediate objective: “This war stops now.” Any inquiries on Sonny’s murder swiftly would have led to Carlo. If Carlo had been whacked, it would have signaled Tattaglia and Barzini that the war wasn’t over, because the inquiry would have next led to them. Vito was pretty certain that Carlo was the traitor, anyway. Better to head off a formal inquiry and take the position that what he didn’t know or care who did it. And, his and Michael’s seeming favorable treatment of Carlo made their enemies relax and think they were weak and irresolute, setting them up for the inevitable surprise and trap. It was Vito at his most brilliant.

Exactly TB. Vito played that one to the hilt. His emotional control was remarkable.

I agree 100%. Spot-on analysis, as usual.

Welcome back, Sonny!

Do you think it was also because he didn't have the heart to murder his daughter's husband, the father of his grandchildren?

Well, as Vito tells Michael in the novel, "I haven't got the heart anymore. And there are some duties the best of men can't assume."

So, yes.

Great analysis, TB, but it got me to wondering. Clearly Vito wanted to create a safe path for Michael to return safely. He had to have known about Michael's marriage and his wife's murder as well, so he put all that on the shelf too. My question is whether at that point Vito knew he had to groom Michael to succeed him. By then he had no one els... I think the answer is "yes," and that is why it took Michael more than a year to get around to seeing Kay, and it explains the deleted scene in which Michael tells Vito that he (Michael) never said he would not start another war. It also makes more poignant the "I never wanted this for you." It is as close as a Corleone gets to remorse. Surely in Vito's mind at some point he never wanted it for Michael, but when the circumstances changed he most certainly wanted it for Michael or else the family would fall apart.

I agree 100%, dt. I think Vito genuinely didn't want Michael to be the Don before all the tragedy, but at that point, he had no choice. But Michael cold have chosen not to be the Don. He wanted it.

Power, or the prospect of having it, is intoxicating.

As boss of the largest family in New York he had plenty of choices, it's just that he was preoccupied with nepotism.

I think during that scene "I want no inquiries made", really meant that Vito doesn't have the strength to fight back. Anymore bloodshed would result in more family death members..possibly including himself. With Sonny being gone, there is no one else to lead the war.

That's why Vito had to cave in at the meetings to give the other families their demands so there could be temporary peace.

Since Micheal was hungry for revenge, Vito used that to come up with his flawless plan.

With Sonny dead and Vito sick there's no question he had to cave. The "no inquiries" issue was, as has been posted in this thread, a signal to the other families that the Corleones were not going to seek vengence for Sonny.

In fact at that time the Corleone family probably didn't have the muscle, let alone the leadership to carry on the war (not to mention the money they were losing).

There are some foreshadowings of things to come, however. At the meeting of all the Dons from New York and the "other territories," Tattaglia asks what will happen when the Corleones regain their strength. Vito's answer is carefully worded. He says on the souls of his grandchildren HE will not be the one too break the peace "WE'VE made here today."

Clearly he wants Michael back home, and even carves out an exception to his promise, namely that nothing happens to Michael. Period. This is really thew first act of the next war. In the car on the way home, Vito informs Tom that the real enemy has shown his face. "It was Barzini all along."

Then Michael comes home and spends more than a year under Vito's tutelage, and with Vito's help builds a secret regime which keeps everyone, most notably Moe Green, that the Corleone are wanting for muscle. Even Tessio's betrayal is born of his belief that there is no muscle, that his territory will be chiseled away and that he has no choice to align himself with Barzini (it was business not personal). Tessio liked Mike but he really didn't think he had the smarts to succeed Vito.
The consensus was that Michael remained a "civilian" and that Fredo was an idiot. On the one hand Michael and Vito wanted everyone to underestimate him and Fredo was --- an idiot.
This ruse is classic Sicilian cunning, and obviously it was pulled off brilliantly.

I think it's pretty evident (and the novel makes it explicit) that Vito's intention was to bring Michael back home safe and secure. Initiating inquiries would have had any number of negative effects one of which would have been the diversion of Corleone resources which were already at a premium.

What do you think Vito would do if after the peace meeting, the other families still decided to kill Michael?

Would he still have the heart to strike back?

"My youngest son was forced to leave this country... because of this Sollozzo business! Now I have to make arrangements to bring him home safely. But, if some unfortunate accident might befall him. Or if he gets shot in the head by a police officer... Or if he gets struck by a bolt of lightning, I'm going to blame some of the people in this room! And that I do not forgive."

It's too bad Brando's line reading sounds much more like "I want all inquiries made".

If they made an actual attempt on Michael's life? Even if not successful? You better believe he would! Especially if such an attempt had been successful. It would have been World War III - gangster style!

~ Q

Keep in mind though that the Corleone family was probably at its lowest ebb. Its resources had dwindled. Thus, its ability to fight a war would have been significantly limited. Vito would have recognized this and would not have initiated a war.

Funny, Google hits for "I want all inquiries made" are about 5 times that of "I want no inquiries made". I always thought he said "all" and so did pretty much everybody else who doesn't know the script and hadn't read the books. I really think Brando flubbed this line.

He said "I want NO inquiries made" I saw the film at least 1000 or so times and know the script by heart.

I'm aware of what he was supposed to say and I think he probably just had a throat catch at the start of "no" and his diction was horrendous to start with while playing that character. Unfortunately it sounds for all the world like "all", and "all" makes more intuitive sense in that situation to a viewer than "no" anyway. It's unfortunate because I agree that "no" give it an interesting strategic meaning.

They didn't need to make inquires. He was at war with the five family's so he knew they were the ones who did it.

And he knew it was carlo, they all did Tom, the don and michael knew it was carlo the whole time. Clemenza and tessio probably knew it as well. Tom knew as soon as it happened you can tell from the way he talked to him on the phone.

Carlo bashed his wife, to get sonny to come after him and sonny got ambushed. You can't have men ready at toll booths 100% of the time waiting to ambush people so it had to be a set up.
Unless it was a huge coincidence But coincidences don't happen to people who take them as personal insults.

So since Vito knew who was responsible he made the right move by telling his people to not make inquieres and to stop fighting the war.