Comitetul National Român

Historical Note

Comitetul National Roman (Romanian National Committee) was the name given to the post-World War II Romanian democratic government-in-exile.

It was organized in Washington by General Nicolae Radescu, the last constitutional premier of Romania, under the patronage of Michael, King of Romania. The CNR was also one of the nine organizations that comprised the Assembly of Captive European Nations.

It initially consisted of ten members, representing the three main Romanian democratic parties of the inter-war period: the National Peasant Party, the Liberal Party, and the Independent Socialist Party. Besides General Radescu, the other founding members were: Cornel Bianu (Extraordinary Envoy of Iuliu Maniu to London during World War II), Nicolae Caranfil (former Minister of Aviation), Alexandre Cretzianu (former Romanian Minister in Ankara and initiator of secret negotiations with the Allies in Cairo in 1944), Mihail Farcasanu (President of the Romanian Liberal Youth Organization), Grigore Gafencu (former Foreign Minister), Grigore Niculescu Buzesti (former Foreign Minister), Augustin Popa (former member of the Romanian Parliament), Constantin Visoianu (former Foreign Minister, appointed at Titulescu's recommendation as a member of the General Secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva, ex-Minister to the Hague and Warsaw, ex-foreign policy Counselor of Iuliu Maniu, participant in the secret negotiations with the Allies in Cairo in 1944), Iancu Zissu (member of the Independent Socialist Party).

According to its by-laws, "the purpose of the National Romanian Committee is: a) to represent the Romanian nation and defend its interests until the national liberation; b) to lead through every possible means an action to liberate Romania and to reestablish there a democratic form of government; c) to coordinate and support the welfare of all Romanian refugees; d) to direct the cooperation of Romanians abroad to arrive at the fulfillment of their purposes."

Mainly because of inner conflicts over the administration of the controversial fund whose custodian Cretzianu was, and because of the alleged subsidizing of Radescu by the former Romanian industrialist Malaxa, four of the members (Radescu, Gafencu, Farcasanu, and Caranfil) resigned in the summer of 1950. Constantin Visoianu became the new president of the Committee. Among the new members who occupied the places vacated were: George Assan, Alexandre Bunescu, Dumitru Ciotori, Anton Crihan, Sabin Manuila, Mihai Rautu.

Within the committee, each member had specific political functions. Thus, C. Visoianu and G. Gafencu were responsible for relations with the US Department of State, the UN, foreign ambassadors, and the other Eastern European National Committees. A. Popa was responsible for the propaganda and the editing of the CNR publications. M. Farcasanu was responsible for the collaboration with all radio stations broadcasting in Romanian and with the National Committee for Free Europe, as well as for all the questions pertaining to the Romanian Orthodox Church. A. Cretzianu's activity focused on the bi-monthly bulletin for King Michael and the coordination of CNR representatives abroad, while N. Caranfil was responsible for the legal and material assistance to refugees.

The representatives of the CNR abroad were Virgil Veniamin (Paris), Vladimir Ionescu, former general consul in Florence (Rome), Aurel Decei, former Press Attaché in Turkey (Istanbul), Radu Cutzarida, former Chargé d'Affaires in Argentina and former Director of the Treaties Department in the Foreign Office (Buenos Aires), Grigore Constantinescu, former Minister Counselor in the UK (London), Traian Galin, former General Consul of Romania in Lwow, Hamburg, and Bern (Bonn), Radu Arion, former Chargé d'Affaires in Greece (Athens), Gr. Cugler (Lima), M. Giuroiu (Stockholm), Ed. Ressel (Rio de Janeiro), G. Anastasiu (Geneva), Al. Totescu (Lisbon). All members and representatives were appointed by King Michael.

In time, the CNR gathered data and wrote reports for both US and international officials about the political, economic, and social conditions in the Popular Republic of Romania, and published its findings in two newsletters (Romania and La Nation Roumaine). The Committee's members also lobbied for sanctions against the Communist authorities' infringements of human rights, participated in the meetings of the Council of Europe and the United Nations within the Assembly of Captive European Nations, organized conferences, gave speeches and interviews, and wrote newspaper articles on Romania.

Little by little the Committee started to decrease in importance. Its main sponsor, the National Committee for a Free Europe (also the sponsoring organization of the Assembly of Captive European Nations and Radio Free Europe) reduced its funding starting in the middle 1960s, because of the new American "building bridges" policy towards Eastern Europe (see also Brutus Coste's papers in the Hoover Archives). At the beginning of the 1970s, a major scandal, which revealed that the National Committee for a Free Europe was in fact a C.I.A.-sponsored organization (see Box 9/folder 1), led to further cuts in the C.N.R. budget. By 1972, the Committee lacked any external financial support. Besides funding concerns, serious communication problems with the Royal House (see Box 9/folders 4-5) led to the dissolution of the National Committee.

From the guide to the Comitetul National Roman Records, 1945-1975, (Hoover Institution Archives)