Overview
Located in southeastern Europe, Romania became an independent monarchy in 1878, and later fought on the side of the US during World War I. But a growing fascist movement called the Iron Guard led to the establishment of a royal dictatorship in 1938. During World War II, Romania fought on the side of the Axis Powers, and invaded the Soviet Union to recover two territories the Soviets had annexed in 1940. Approximately 300,000 Jews, representing slightly less than half of Romania’s population, were killed in the Holocaust. After the war, the Soviets pressured Romanian officials into adopting a communist government. Nicolae Ceausescu, who gained power during the 1960s, began to distance Romania from the Soviet Union, most notably by denouncing the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This led to greater cooperation with western governments even as human rights and brutal repression reigned at home. The Ceausescu regime was swept from power in 1989, and the country’s Communist Party was dissolved. In the intervening years, Romania has built stronger relations with the US and established a market economy and democratic reforms. However, recent controversies have involved accusations that the US detained several top al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons in Poland and Romania, eliciting dissent from many EU countries. Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to respond to the United States’ plans to build a new military base in Romania along its border with Russia.
Basic Information
Lay of the Land: Located in southeastern Europe, with the Danube forming its southern border, Romania is 31% mountains, 36% hills and plateaus, and 33% plains and flood-lands. The temperate climate favors profuse vegetation, and forests abound.
Population: 21.5 million
Religions: Romanian Orthodox 86.8%, Roman Catholic 4.7%, Greek Catholic 3.2% other Christian (Old Rite, Reformed Protestant, Evangelical, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon) 2%, Muslim 0.7%, non-religious 2.6%.
Ethnic Groups: Romanian 89.5%, Hungarian 6.6%, Roma 2.5%, Ukrainian 0.3%, German 0.3%, Russian 0.2%, Turkish 0.2%, other 0.4%.
Languages: Romanian 88.1%, Hungarian 6.5%, Romani (Balkan, Carpathian, Vlax) 1.1%, German 0.2%, Crimean Turkish 0.1%, Bulgarian 0.03%. There are 15 living languages in Romania.
History
Romania was originally settled by the Dacians, who were a Thracian tribe. The area was subsequently incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire under the Emperor Trajan during the early part of the 2nd century AD, but was abandoned approximately two centuries later, when the empire was declining in strength.
During the medieval period, Romania emerged as the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Under the Ottoman Empire, these regions were heavily taxed, forcing them to unify under a single native prince in 1859 which led to gaining independence under the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. In 1881, Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, of German extraction, was crowned the first King of Romania.
Situated as Romania was between the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires, Romanians looked to the West for help. France, in particular, helped the country shape its cultural, educational and administrative systems. During World War I, Romania was an ally of the France, Britain and the US. After the war was over, Romania was granted many territories with Romanian populations, including Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina.
Romania remained a liberal constitutional monarchy, in practice at least, leading up to World War II. But the fascist Iron Guard movement, espousing nationalism and the fear of communism, as well as a resentment of Jewish domination of the economy, helped to destabilize this regime. In response, a royal dictatorship was formed in 1938, under King Carol II.
In 1940, General Antonescu took control. Romania entered World War II on the side of the Axis Powers in June 1941, invading the Soviet Union to recover Bessarabia and Bukovina, which had been annexed in 1940.
In August 1944, King Michael led a coup that deposed the Antonescu dictatorship and put Romania’s battered armies on the side of the Allies. Romania fought alongside the Soviet Union against the Germans in Transylvania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, taking heavy casualties.
Romanian authorities were responsible for the deaths of between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews in the territories under Romanian jurisdiction (including Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria) out of a population of approximately 760,000. Approximately 132,000 Romanian Jews were killed by pro-Nazi Hungarians in Transylvania.
On February 10, 1947, a peace treaty signed in Paris confirmed the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, but restored part of northern Transylvania granted to Hungary in 1940 by Hitler. Romania was also responsible for massive war reparations to the Soviet Union, whose troops did not leave Romania until 1958.
The Soviets pressured Romanian officials to include them in the country’s post-war government, In December 1947 King Michael abdicated and went into exile, clearing the way for the creation of the Romanian People’s Republic.
By the late 1950s, Romania’s Communist government had gained some independence from the Soviet Union. Nicolae Ceausescu became head of the Party in 1965, and head of state in 1967. Ceausescu’s denunciation of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and a brief relaxation in internal repression helped give him a positive image both at home and in the West. Seduced by Ceausescu’s “independent” foreign policy, Western leaders were slow to turn against a regime that, by the late 1970s, had become increasingly harsh, arbitrary, and capricious.
As communism was collapsing in the Soviet Union in 1989, a mid-December protest in Timisoara against the forced relocation of an ethnic Hungarian pastor grew into a countrywide protest against the Ceausescu regime, sweeping the dictator from power. Ceausescu and his wife were executed on December 25, 1989, after a cursory military trial. Subsequent street fighting killed about 1,500 people before the National Salvation Front (FSN) installed itself and proclaimed the restoration of democracy and freedom. Afterwards, the Communist Party was dissolved. Its assets were transferred to the state, and Ceausescu’s most unpopular measures, such as bans on private commercial entities and independent political activity, were repealed.
Ion Iliescu emerged as the leader of the FSN. On May 20, 1990, presidential and parliamentary elections were held, and Iliescu won 85% of the vote. The new government opened the economy to consumer imports and established the independence of the National Bank. Since the revolution Romania has taken steps to repair its human rights record and incorporate democratic reforms. Many who were associated with Ceausescu’s regime remained in positions of power, however.
After 1989, over 200 new political parties sprang up. Many espoused democracy and market reforms, but the governing National Salvation Front proposed slower, more cautious economic reforms. In the 1990 general elections, the FSN and its candidate for presidency, Ion Iliescu, won with a large majority of the votes.
Unhappy at the continued political and economic influence of members of the Ceausescu-era elite, anti-communist protesters camped in University Square in April 1990. When miners from the Jiu Valley came to Bucharest two months later and brutally dispersed the remaining “hooligans,” President Iliescu expressed public thanks, convincing many that the government had sponsored the miners’ actions.
The miners also attacked the headquarters and houses of opposition leaders, and the Romanian government fell in September 1991. The miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries and better living conditions, and Theodor Stolojan was appointed to head an interim government until new elections could be held.
In December 1991, parliament drafted a new constitution. In 1992, a technocratic government was formed under Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, an economist. The Vacaroiu government ruled in coalition with three smaller parties. Iliescu easily won reelection over a field of five other candidates.
The 1996 local elections demonstrated a major shift in the political orientation of the Romanian electorate. Opposition parties swept Bucharest and many of the larger cities. This trend continued in the national elections that same year, where the opposition dominated the cities and made steep inroads into rural areas previously dominated by President Iliescu and the PDSR. Emil Constantinescu was elected president, and the coalition government formed in December 1996 took the historic step of inviting the UDMR and its Hungarian ethnic backers into the government. The coalition government retained power for four years despite constant internal frictions and three prime ministers, the last being the Governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isarescu.
In November 2000, the electorate punished the coalition parties for their corruption and failure to improve the standard of living. The PDSR (renamed PSD - Social Democratic Party) came back into power, and former President Ion Iliescu was elected again as president.
The PSD government, led by Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, forged a de facto governing coalition with the ethnic Hungarian UDMR, ushering in four years of relatively stable government. This government has brought greater economic stability, though corruption remains a serious problem.
In September 2003, the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL) and centrist Democratic Party (PD) formed an alliance at a national and local level in anticipation of 2004 local and national elections. In October of that year, Romanian citizens voted to bring the country’s laws in to compliance with European Union standards.
On November 28, 2004, Romania again held parliamentary and the first round of presidential elections. In the December presidential run-off election, former Bucharest Mayor Traian Băsescu , representing the center-right PNL-PD alliance, delivered a surprise defeat to PSD candidate Nastase. Băsescu appointed PNL leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu as prime minister, and Parliament approved the new government on December 28, 2004.
In April 2005, Bucharest joined the EU accession treaty and became a member of the union in January 2007.
Bad blood between the president and prime minister unraveled the coalition government in April 2007. Since that time, Prime Minister Tariceanu’s PNL party has run an ultra-minority government in coalition with the UDMR and tacit support of the PSD.
Inflation rose within the next year due to strong consumer demand and rising energy costs, among other factors. The nation’s GDP subsequently contracted due to the global financial crisis. In 2009 the government borrowed $26 billion from the International Monetary Fund and became its largest debtor in 2010.
Twleve candidates contested the 2009 presidential election. In the first round, on November 22, incumbent president Băsescu of the PNL party and Mircea Geoană of the PSD won 32.44% and 31.15% of the votes respectively. In the December 6 runoffs, Băsescu gained another term by a margin of .66% of the vote, winning by barely 70,000 votes out of 10.5 million cast. Geoană accused Băsescu of employing a parapsychologist, Aliodor Manolea, to direct a “negative energy attack” against him during a debate.
A Country Study: Romania (Library of Congress)
History of Romania (Wikipedia)
Romania History (Jewish Virtual Library)
Loser of Romanian Election Claims He was Defeated by Negative Energy Waves (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Romania's Newspapers
Azi (Romanian)
Bursa (Romanian)
Evenimentul Zilei (Romanian)
Nine O’Clock (English)The Diplomat (English)
Transindex (Hungarian)
History of U.S. Relations with Romania
Immigration
One of the first Romanians to come to the US was a Transylvanian priest named Samuel Damian, who became well known for his experiments with electricity, and met Benjamin Franklin (with whom he had a conversation in Latin).
The first and most significant immigration wave occurred between 1895 and 1920, when 145,000 Romanians immigrated in search of economic opportunity. Many successfully accumulated enough capital to return home and live comfortably, which left only 85,000 Romanians living in the US in 1920.
The restrictive Immigration Act of 1924 set an annual quota of 603 for Romanians, drastically limiting immigration. With the closure of World War II and the impending arrival of communism, the Displaced Persons Act of 1947 was passed to allow 30,000 dissidents and refugees into the US.
Since the fall of communism, many Romanians are again coming to the US, and large Romanian populations can be found in the East and Midwest. The largest Romanian American communities are in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Florida and California.
Political Relations
After World War II, when Romania moved toward Communism, relations with the US cooled. During the 1960s, these relations improved due to the signing of an agreement providing for partial settlement of American property claims. Exchanges along cultural, scientific and education lines were initiated, and in 1964, both nations established full embassies.
When Romanian PresidentCeausescu began to distance his country from the Soviet Union in 1968, President Nixon paid an official visit to Romania in August 1969. Despite political differences, high-level contacts continued between US and Romanian leaders throughout the 1970s, culminating in the 1978 state visit to Washington by President and Mrs. Ceausescu.
In 1972, an agreement providing protection to citizens and their property in both countries was signed. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) facilities were granted, and Romania became eligible for US Export-Import Bank credits.
In April 1975, a trade agreement granted most favored nation (MFN) status to Romania. This was renewed yearly after congressional review of a presidential determination that Romania was making progress towards freedom of emigration. Relations with the US again became strained due to Romania’s poor human rights record in the mid-1980s, particularly as it related to mistreatment of religious and ethnic minorities. At this time, Congress attempted to withdraw MFN status. Ceausescu renounced MFN treatment, calling Jackson-Vanik and other human rights requirements unacceptable interference in Romanian sovereignty.
Secretary of State Baker visited Romania in February 1990, but relations with Romania cooled after the June 1990 intervention of the miners in University Square. The Stolojan government undertook some economic reforms and conducted free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections in September 1992.
Encouraged by the conduct of local elections in February 1992, Deputy Secretary of State Laurence Eagleburger paid a visit in May 1992. Congress restored MFN in November 1993 in recognition of Romania’s progress in instituting political and economic reform. In 1996, the US Congress voted to extend permanent MFN graduation to Romania.
The US has taken measures to deepen relations in the 1990s. President Bill Clinton visited Romania in 1997, and the two countries moved toward greater cooperation on shared goals, including economic and political development, defense reform, and non-traditional threats (such as trans-border crime and non-proliferation).
Romania–United States relations (Wikipedia)
Current U.S. Relations with Romania
Noted Romanian Americans
Actors:
Adrian Zmed: The actor is remembered for his roles in Grease 2 (1982) and the TV series T.J. Hooker. Although Zmed was born in Chicago, his father’s parents are natives of Romania.
Sebastian Stan: Born in Romania, he moved to New York with his mother at the age of twelve. The actor has had roles in the TV dramas Kings and Gossip Girls.
Athletes:
Nadia Comăneci: The Romanian gymnast won five Olympic gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics and was the first gymnast to be given a score of a perfect 10 (1976). She was born in Romania, but escaped to the US a few weeks before the Romanian revolution in 1989.
Dominique Moceanu: Born in Hollywood to parents who were Romanian gymnasts, Moceanu carried on the legacy and won an Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Hank Greenberg: Nicknamed “Hammerin’ Hank,” he was a professional baseball player mainly for the Detroit Tigers. He was a five-time All-Star, the American League’s MVP, and a Hall of Fame winner (1956). His Jewish parents were immigrants from Romania.
Authors:
Naomi Wolf: The author became a leading spokesperson in the feminist movement with the publication of The Beauty Myth. Wolf was born in California to a Jewish mother and a Romanian father.
Nina Cassian: Also known as Renèe Annie Cassian, she is a Romanian poet and journalist. She translated many works into Romanian including those of William Shakespeare and has published more than fifty books of her own poetry. Cassian travelled to the US in 1985 and was later granted asylum from the Communist government.
Miscellaneous:
Nathaniel Popp: Popp is the current archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America’s Romanian Episcopate. He was born in Illinois to a Romanian family.
Will Eisner: Born to a Romanian mother, Eisner was an American comic book writer, artist, and entrepreneur. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of comics and is known for his series The Spirit.
Musicians:
Alma Gluck: The Romanian-born American soprano, originally named Reba Feinsohn, recorded an early million-seller record titled “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.”
Sergiu Comissiona: Commissiona was born in Bucharest in 1928 and became the principal conductor of the Romanian National Opera from 1955 to 1959. He moved to the US with his wife in 1976.
Scientists:
George Emil Palade: Palade won the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation. He is said to be the “most influential cell biologist ever.” He was born in Romania, but received his US citizenship in 1952.
Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations on September 11, 2001, Romania became supportive of the US in the war on terror. Romania was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in November 2002 and formally joined NATO on March 29, 2004 after depositing its instruments of treaty ratification in Washington, DC.
President George W. Bush visited Bucharest in November 2002 and congratulated the Romanian people for building democratic institutions and a market economy. Since then, Romanian troops have served beside American trips in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In March 2005, President Traian Băsescu made his first official visit to Washington to meet with President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and other senior US officials. In December 2005, Secretary Rice visited Bucharest to meet with President Băsescu and to sign a bilateral defense cooperation agreement that will allow for the joint use of Romanian military facilities by US troops.
The first military exercise under the bilateral defense cooperation agreement took place at Mihail-Kogalniceanu Air Base from August to October 2007.
President Bush held separate bilateral meetings with both President Băsescu and Prime Minister Tariceanu during his NATO Summit visit in 2008. Secretary Rice and Defense Secretary Gates were also in attendance.
The Romanian Supreme Court of National Defence approved Romania’s participation in the US anti-missile system in 2010 and finalized the agreement on May 4, 2011. As part of the agreement, the system will provide “full coverage of Romania’s territory against short- and medium-range missile threats.”
In the 2000 US census,367,278 people identified themselves as being of Romanian ancestry.
In 2005, 98,502 Americans visited Romania. More Americans have visited Romania every year since 2002, when 58,464 Americans traveled to Romania.
In 2006, 39,775 Romanians visited the US. The number of tourists has grown consistently every year since 2002, when 26,440 Romanians came to America.
COMUSAFE builds on US-Romania relationship (Capt. Elizabeth Culbertson, Air Force Link)
US Strategy in the Black Sea Region (Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. and Conway Irwin, The Heritage Foundation)
US and Romania begin 3-month joint training exercise (Matthew Brunwasser, International Herald Tribune)
Băsescu: Romania is committed to strengthing partnership with US (German Marshal Fund of the United States)
Where Does the Money Flow
In 2010, US imports from Romania totaled $1 billion while US exports to Romania were $730.9 million.
Top US imports from Romania in 2010 included metallurgical grade coal ($135.2 million), telecommunications equipment ($60.2 million), and industrial engines ($55.3 million).
Top US exports to Romania in 2010 included “other industrial machinery” ($137.8 million); fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides ($92.5 million); drilling and oil field equipment and platforms ($85 million); iron and steel products ($57.9 million); and telecommunications equipment ($50.7 million).
Romania, as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), provides assistance in Afghanistan and Kosovo. Romania and the US have a joint goal of improving stability between countries bordering the Black Sea.
The FY 2012 foreign aid budget request to promote peace and security is $14.8 million. Programs to modernize Romania through provisions of communications and information technology and training of military personnel will be implemented through the US Department of Defense. Through the Foreign Military Financing program, the US will provide equipment such as “C-130 military transport aircraft spare parts and logistical support equipment…improved secure communications with the US European Command; and unmanned aerial vehicle maintenance support.”
Trade in Goods (Imports, Exports and Trade Balance) with Romania (US Census Bureau)
Why Romania? (BUYUSA.gov)
Romania (USAID.gov)
US-Romania Industrial Supply Marketplace (ForeignTradEx)
Controversies
Three Americans Questioned in Child Disappearance
In January 2009, three American citizens were questioned in the alleged abduction of a Romanian child that is the subject of a custody dispute. The boy disappeared from school during a break, and quickly became the subject of a nationwide search. Police found the child with the three Americans near the border with Bulgaria, who were ordered not to leave the country. The child told police that one of the three claimed to be related to his father and that he had come to take him back to the United States.
3 US citizens questioned in Romania (Associated Press)
US Plans for New Base in Romania Angers Russia
In February 2008, Russian president Vladimir Putin reacted angrily to US plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and new military bases in Romania and Bulgaria, saying that Russia would respond to military expansion near its borders. The US has said that these moves are designed for diplomatic purposes, but Putin maintained that the American military plans are on a “one-way” basis, and leave his country unprotected.
Romania to sign US military bases deal (Reuters)
Renditions to Romania and Other Countries Stirs Controversy with EU
In December 2005, it was revealed that the US had detained several top al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons in Poland and Romania, eliciting dismay from European Union countries. Media reports have linked CIA aircraft to airports in Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, suggesting that these planes are carrying suspected terrorists to “black” sites. Airport records that note flight plans and identification numbers are publicly available, but it is under debate whether these flights are in breach of international law, or whether they raise any human rights questions.
These “renditions” have helped “save European lives,” according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But they have put pressure on governments across Europe. Some of which fear revealing their complicity with CIA operations. Political fallout from renditions in Italy, Sweden and Germany has made it more difficult for these countries to cooperate in future counterterrorism exercises with US intelligence, and threatens to stop the flow of information between allies. Romanian authorities have long maintained that there is no evidence that the US shuttled prisoners through air bases in the country or operated secret prisons.
US Treatment of Terror Suspects and US-EU Relations (by Mary Crane, Council on Foreign Relations)
Rocky start for Rice in Europe (by Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe)
Romania Base Suspected CIA Prisoner Site (by William J. Kole, Associated Press)
US Will Address E.U. Questions on CIA Prisons (by Glenn Kessler, Washington Post)
Human Rights
According to the State Department, “There were reports that police and gendarmes mistreated and harassed detainees and Roma. Prison conditions remained poor. The judiciary lacked impartiality and was sometimes subject to political influence. Property restitution remained extremely slow, and the government failed to take effective action to return Greek Catholic churches confiscated by the former Communist government in 1948. A restrictive religion law remained in effect. Government corruption remained a widespread problem. There were continued reports of violence and discrimination against women as well as child abuse.”
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions often did not meet international standards. Overcrowding did not represent a serious problem. However, prisoner abuse by authorities and other prisoners continued to be problematic.
The government worked with NGOs to improve prison conditions by providing more daily activities and educational programs and taking measures to deter the spread of HIV and tuberculosis.
Property Restitution
Claims for property seized by the Communist government were required to be filed with the National Restitution Agency in 2001-2003. More than half of these claims were resolved by the end of 2010.
Prime Minister Emil Boc established an interministerial committee with a mandate to simply the restitution process on December 3, 2010.
There were also discrepancies concerning restitutions made by the Orthodox Church to the Greek Catholic Church.
Official Corruption and Government Transparency
Anti-corruption laws were not effectively implemented by the government. To be in accordance with European Union standards, Romania set up a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism to monitor progress in corruption reforms.
Another body, the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), is responsible for investigating and prosecuting high-level corruption and is considered to be effective. The DNA sent 155 cases, involving 698 defendants, were sent to the courts between January to October 2010.
Police corruption and bribery were rampant.
Women
Rape is illegal; however, the law makes it difficult to prosecute rape cases, especially spousal rape cases. About 886 rape cases were sent to court in 2010, but the number of convictions is unknown.
Violence against women continued to be a serious problem. According to NGOS, the government ineffectively addressed the problem. The General Directorate for Child Protection stated that in 2009, 4,185 women and 816 men were victims of domestic violence.
Women in Romania have the right to information, education, and services regarding reproductive health and family planning methods; however, many had difficulty accessing such services. In 2009, there were 207 HIV-positive mothers who gave birth to children. Additionally the maternal mortality rate was 27 per 100,000 births in 2008.
Anti-Semitism
In 2002, there were 5,785 Jews living in Romania. Anti-Semitic acts included vandalism against Jewish sites, although criminals often remained unidentified. Authorities often downplayed vandalism. The NGO Center for Monitoring Anti-Semitism in Romania criticized the government for its lack of prosecutions.
On May 3, 2010, a group of youth threw stones at the house of the guard of the Jewish cemetery in Craiova, but there were no reports of arrests.
Past Ambassadors
Eugene Schuyler
Appointment: Jun 11, 1880
Presentation of Credentials: [see note below]
Termination of Mission: Promoted to Chargé d’Affaires/Consul General
Note: Delivered credentials in private audience, Dec 14, 1880; was not formally received. The Romanian Foreign Ministry, however, had indicated on Aug 13, 1880, a willingness to enter provisionally into relations with the US Legation.
Eugene Schuyler
Appointment: Dec 21, 1880
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 25, 1881
Termination of Mission: Reaccredited when Romania became a kingdom; presented new credentials on May 16, 1881, when Romania became a kingdom; promoted to Minister Resident/Consul General
Note: When promoted to Minister Resident/Consul General, was also accredited to Greece and Serbia; transferred residence to Athens.
Eugene Schuyler
Appointment: Jul 7, 1882
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 8, 1882
Termination of Mission: Presented recall Sep 7, 1884
Walker Fearn
Appointment: Apr 18, 1885
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 20, 1885
Termination of Mission: Relinquish charge at Athens Oct 24, 1899
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 13, 1886. Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
A. Loudon Snowden
Appointment: Jul 1, 1889
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 25, 1889
Termination of Mission: Promoted to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 19, 1889. Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
A. Loudon Snowden
Appointment: Jul 1, 1891
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 15, 1892
Termination of Mission: Left Sinaia, Aug 18-25, 1892
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 23, 1891. Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
Truxtun Beale
Appointment: Jul 22, 1892
Note: Served at Athens, but did not present credentials in Romania under any of his commissions, all of which were to Romania, Serbia, and Greece.
Truxtun Beale
Appointment: Jul 27, 1892
Note: Served at Athens, but did not present credentials in Romania under any of his commissions, all of which were to Romania, Serbia, and Greece.
Truxtun Beale
Appointment: Mar 3, 1893
Note: Served at Athens, but did not present credentials in Romania under any of his commissions, all of which were to Romania, Serbia, and Greece.
Eben Alexander
Appointment: Apr 7, 1893
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 15, 1894
Termination of Mission: Relinquished charge at Athens, Aug 1, 1897
Note: Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
William Woodville Rockhill
Appointment: Jul 8, 1897
Presentation of Credentials: May 18, 1898
Termination of Mission: Recommissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Note: Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
William Woodville Rockhill
Appointment: May 25, 1898
Termination of Mission: Left Athens, Apr 27, 1899
Note: Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
Arthur S. Hardy
Appointment: Apr 18, 1899
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 14, 1900
Termination of Mission: Presented recall Mar 13, 1901
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 14, 1899. Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
Charles S. Francis
Appointment: Dec 20, 1900
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 16, 1901
Termination of Mission: Relinquished charge at Athens, Dec 24, 1902
Note: Also accredited to Greece and Serbia; resident at Athens.
Henry L. Wilson
Appointment: Oct 13, 1902
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate. Also commissioned to Greece and Serbia; declined appointment.
John B. Jackson
Appointment: Oct 13, 1902
Presentation of Credentials: Apr 7, 1903
Termination of Mission: Recommissioned to a different combination of countries
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 8, 1902. Commissioned to Greece, Romania, and Serbia; resident at Athens.
John B. Jackson
Appointment: Jun 5, 1903
Termination of Mission: Presented recall Jul 25, 1905
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Greece, Romania, and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent to Bulgaria; resident at Athens. Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Nov 16, 1903.
John W. Riddle
Appointment: Mar 8, 1905
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 3, 1905
Termination of Mission: Left post Jan 23, 1907
Note: Commissioned to Romania and Serbia; resident at Bucharest.
Horace G. Knowles
Appointment: Jan 16, 1907
Presentation of Credentials: May 7, 1907
Termination of Mission: Recommissioned to a different combination of countries
Note: Commissioned to Romania and Serbia; resident at Bucharest.
Horace G. Knowles
Appointment: Jul 1, 1907
Termination of Mission: Left post Feb 4, 1909
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 12, 1907. Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest.
Huntington Wilson
Appointment: Dec 17, 1908
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria; took oath of office, but did not proceed to post.
Spencer F. Eddy
Appointment: Jan 11, 1909
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 9, 1909
Termination of Mission: Left post Sep 29, 1909
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest.
John R. Carter
Appointment: Sep 25, 1909
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 14, 1909
Termination of Mission: Recommissioned with a new title in Bulgaria
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania and Serbia and Diplomatic Agent in Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest; recommissioned on Dec 13, 1909, after confirmation.
John R. Carter
Appointment: Jun 24, 1910
Termination of Mission: Left post Oct 24, 1911
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest.
John B. Jackson
Appointment: Aug 12, 1911
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 24, 1911
Termination of Mission: Presented recall Oct 28, 1913
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest.
Charles J. Vopicka
Appointment: Sep 11, 1913
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 27, 1913
Termination of Mission: Left post Jul 10, 1920
Note: Commissioned as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria; resident at Bucharest.
Peter Augustus Jay
Appointment: Apr 18, 1921
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 30, 1921
Termination of Mission: Left post May 9, 1925
William S. Culbertson
Appointment: Apr 28, 1925
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 12, 1925
Termination of Mission: Left post Apr 15, 1928
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 17, 1925.
Charles S. Wilson
Appointment: Jun 23, 1928
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 13, 1928
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 2, 1933
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 23, 1929.
Alvin Mansfield Owlsey
Appointment: Jun 13, 1933
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 15, 1933
Termination of Mission: Left post Jun 16, 1935
Leland Harrison
Appointment: May 15, 1935
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 24, 1935
Termination of Mission: Left post Sep 3, 1937
Franklin Mott Gunther
Appointment: Jul 31, 1937
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 23, 1937
Termination of Mission: Romania declared war on US, Dec 12, 1941
Note: Gunther died at Bucharest, Dec 22, 1941.
Rudolf E. Schoenfeld
Appointment: Jul 28, 1947
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 25, 1947
Termination of Mission: Presented new credentials on Mar 11, 1948, when Romania became a republic; left post May 24, 1950
Note: James W. Gantenbein served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Sep 1950-Nov 1952.
Harold Shantz
Appointment: Sep 27, 1952
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 20, 1952
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 30, 1955
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jun 4, 1953.
Robert H. Thayer
Appointment: Aug 17, 1955
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 10, 1955
Termination of Mission: Left post Dec 12, 1957
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 25, 1956.
Clifton R. Wharton
Appointment: Feb 5, 1958
Presentation of Credentials: Mar 7, 1958
Termination of Mission: Left post Oct 21, 1960
William A. Crawford
Appointment: Nov 28, 1961
Presentation of Credentials: Feb 10, 1962
Termination of Mission: Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 30, 1962.
William A. Crawford
Appointment: Dec 4, 1964
Presentation of Credentials: [Dec 24, 1964]
Termination of Mission: Left post Oct 10, 1965
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 18, 1965. John P. Shaw was serving as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim when the Legation in Bucharest was raised to Embassy status on Jun 1, 1964.
Richard H. Davis
Appointment: Sep 24, 1965
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 16, 1965
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 6, 1969
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
Leonard C. Meeker
Appointment: Jul 22, 1969
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 16, 1969
Termination of Mission: Left post May 10, 1973
Termination of Mission: Left post May 10, 1973
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
Harry G. Barnes, Jr.
Appointment: Dec 19, 1973
Presentation of Credentials: Mar 14, 1974
Termination of Mission: Left post Nov 10, 1977
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
O. Rudolph Aggrey
Appointment: Oct 21, 1977
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 22, 1977
Termination of Mission: Left post Jul 11, 1981
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
David B. Funderburk
Appointment: Oct 2, 1981
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 13, 1981
Termination of Mission: Left post May 13, 1985
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
Roger Kirk
Appointment: Nov 15, 1985
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 29, 1985
Termination of Mission: Left post Jul 5, 1989
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
Alan Green, Jr.
Appointment: Oct 10, 1989
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 7, 1989
Termination of Mission: Left post Jan 11, 1992
Note: Commissioned to the Socialist Republic of Romania.
John R. Davis, Jr.
Appointment: Dec 2, 1991
Presentation of Credentials: Mar 11, 1992
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 9, 1994
Alfred H. Moses
Appointment: Sep 29, 1994
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 14, 1994
Termination of Mission: Left post Aug 11, 1997
James Carew Rosapepe
Appointment: Nov 10, 1997
Presentation of Credentials: Feb 4, 1998
Termination of Mission: Left post Mar 1, 2001
Michael E. Guest
Appointment: Aug 3, 2001
Presentation of Credentials: Sep 24, 2001
Termination of Mission: Jul 8, 2004
Jack Dyer Crouch II
Appointed May 25, 2004
Presented credentials Jul 16, 2004
Termination of Mission: Feb 28, 2005
Nicholas F. Taubman
Appointment: Nov 2, 2005
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 5, 2005
Termination of Mission: December 3, 2008
Romania's Ambassador to the U.S.
Buga, Lulian
Lulian Buga presented his credentials as Romania’s ambassador to the United States to President Barack Obama on December 3, 2013. The day had been a long time coming for Buga, a career civil servant who’d first been talked about for the Washington slot in 2007.
Buga was born August 31, 1957, in Rosiorii de Vede, Teleorman County, Romania. His first degree was a B.S. in electronics and telecommunications engineering in 1982 from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. Buga began his working career as a researcher at Romania’s Research and Design Institute for Electronic Components in Bucharest, remaining there until 1990. He then moved to Electronium, a state-owned company that traded in Romanian-made electronics parts, where he remained until 1991.
At that point, two years after the fall of communism in Romania, Buga made a drastic career change, moving to his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a third secretary in its protocol department. In 1992, Buga earned an M.A. in international relations and diplomacy from Westminster University in London. Buga was put in gradually more responsible positions in the foreign ministry until 1994, when he was sent to Washington as a counsellor in Romania’s embassy. In 1997, Buga was moved to the west coast as consul general in Los Angeles.
Buga received his first ambassadorial posting in 2001, being named to head his country’s mission in the Netherlands. At that time, he was also named Romania’s representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
He kept the post in the Netherlands until 2007, when the foreign ministry nominated him to be the ambassador to the United States. However Romanian President Traian Băsescu vetoed the move, and Buga returned to Bucharest to serve as state secretary in the foreign ministry.
In 2009, Buga was sent to Ireland to serve as his country’s ambassador in Dublin. He stayed there until his assignment to Washington.
Since his arrival in the United States, one of the big issues Buga has addressed is getting his country added to the visa waiver list, so Romanians can travel to the United States without visas, as citizens of many other countries, mainly Western European and Asian, do.
Buga and his wife, Mihaela, have a daughter, Irina.
-Steve Straehley
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U.S. Ambassador to Romania
Gitenstein, Mark
Were it not for President Barack Obama’s “no lobbyists” policy, Mark Gitenstein might well have taken over the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy. But Gitenstein’s prior lobbying work on behalf of business clients, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, killed his chances of joining Justice. So, instead, the longtime Washington lawyer, Democratic contributor, and former aide to Vice President Joseph Biden has had to settle for being the first Romanian-American ambassador to Romania. He was sworn in on August 3, 2009.
Gitenstein’s great grandparents immigrated to America in the 1890s. Gitenstein himself received his Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a J.D. from Georgetown University.
He went to work as a staffer for the U.S. Senate in the early 1970s, beginning what became a 17-year career on Capitol Hill. Gitenstein served as a counsel on the Senate Intelligence Committee when it investigated the FBI’s illegal surveillance and intimidation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and later he was chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on criminal laws and procedures.
He eventually rose to chief counsel for the judiciary committee, and worked in the office of Senator Joseph Biden, who chaired the committee during the volatile confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Gitenstein was Biden’s chief adviser during the hearings, which resulted in Bork’s rejection. In 1992, he wrote a book, Matters of Principle : An Insider's Account of America's Rejection of Robert Bork's Nomination to the Supreme Court, about his experience managing the Judiciary Committee staff during the Bork confirmation hearings.
In 1989, Gitenstein left the Senate to become executive director of The Foundation for Change Inc., and he joined the Washington office of the multi-national firm Mayer Brown LLP that same year. He later became a partner and represented some of the firm’s biggest business clients, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co., United Technologies, Bayer Corp., AT&T and Merrill Lynch. From 1999 to 2001, Gitenstein reportedly lobbied on behalf of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and several other defense contractors to get Congress to amend the False Claims Act, a law first passed during President Abraham Lincoln’s administration that provides rewards to public employees for information exposing fraud by government contractors. The Justice Deaprtment stated that between 1986 and 2007 the Act was responsible for recovering $20 billion for fraud. Gitenstein worked to weaken the Act.
According to Public Citizen, Gitenstein and a dozen other Mayer Brown employees were paid $1.1 million in 2002 to lobby for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on issues including tort reform, class actions, preemption and federalism, and campaign finance reform.
While still at Mayer Brown, he also served as counsel to Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, which successfully pushed to force almost all class action suits into the federal court system, and lobbied to add more business-friendly judges to state courts. Earlier this decade he became a nonresident senior fellow in governance studies specializing in issues related to national security and civil liberties at the Brookings Institution. In November 2007 Gitenstein co-authored a position paper on detaining suspected terrorists: “A Legal Framework for Detaining Terrorists: Enact a Law to End the Clash over Rights” .
Following the November 2008 election, Gitenstein served as a key adviser to Biden during the transition.
Shortly after Obama took office, Gitenstein was rumored to be the choice for heading the Office of Legal Policy. But opposition from some liberal Democrats and the public advocacy group, Public Citizen, over his business lobbying forced the White House to reconsider the nomination.
Gitenstein reportedly has given almost $130,000 in campaign contributions since 1989, virtually all of it to Democrats.
Giving, Till It Hurts (by Al Kamen, Washington Post)
Likely Justice Department Nominee Faces Ethics Hurdle (by Tom Hamburger and Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times)
Obama Should Not Nominate Corporate Lobbyist Mark Gitenstein to Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy (Public Citizen)
Mark Gitenstein – Advisory Board: Obama-Biden Transition Project (by Peter Gosselar, Public Citizen)
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