Nicolae Rădescu
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Nicolae Rădescu (March 30, 1874, Călimăneşti — May 16, 1953, New York City) was a Romanian army officer and political figure. He was the last pre-communist rule Prime Minister of Romania, serving from December 7, 1944 to March 1, 1945.
Before World War II, he was the leader of a far right party called Cruciada Românismului ("The Crusade of Romanianism"), the splinter group of the Iron Guard created by Mihai Stelescu.
In 1942, during Ion Antonescu's dictatorship, Rădescu wrote an article critical of the German ambassador Manfred Freiherr von Killinger and his constant intrusion in the internal affairs of Romania. He was interned as a political prisoner in the Târgu Jiu camp. On August 23, 1944, immediately after Antonescu's downfall, Rădescu was released from prison and appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian Army.
He became prime minister on December 7. In this position he tried to adopt strong anti-Communist policies modelled on that of the George Papandreou Greek government. In the end of February 1945 the Communist Party of Romania and its allies organised a mass rally in front of the Royal Palace to call for his resignation. As the protest carried on, unknown persons opened fire from the Interior Ministry building situated across the street, killing some ten persons. Held responsible for this by the Soviets and the Romanian Communists, Rădescu was forced to resign. Joseph Stalin had Andrey Vyshinsky communicate the warning that the Soviet Union would not allow Northern Transylvania to be awarded back to Romania if Rădescu were to remain prime minister. He resigned his position on March 1.
On March 6, 1945 the first Communist-dominated government of Romania took office under the direction of Petru Groza. Over the next few years, the Communists would completely consolidate their power.
Pursued by the Communist authorities, in 1946 Rădescu sought refuge in the British embassy, and ultimately left Romania not for the United Kingdom but for the United States, where he died seven years later.
Once in America, he and other exiled Romanian political figures, including Augustin Popa, Mihail Fărcăşanu, Grigore Gafencu, and Constantin Vişoianu, came together to form a united anti-communist opposition in exile. They never received major support from any of the Free World governments. At the Yalta Conference, the United States and the UK had conceded the dominant role in Romania to the Soviet Union, and the presence of the Red Army on Romanian soil had assured that concession.
At the initiative of Prime Minister Mugur Isărescu, the remains of General Rădescu were brought back to Romania in 2000. Following the wishes expressed in his testament, he was reburied in the Orthodox Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest on November 23, 2000.
