871.00/5–4849
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Southern European Affairs (Campbell)
- Participants: General Nicolae Radescu, former Prime Minister of Rumania;
- Mr. Barbu Niculescu, personal secretary of General Radescu;
- Mr. John C. Campbell, SE;
- Mr. Horace J. Nickels, SE.
During a short courtesy call on May 13, 1949, General Radescu [Page 285] touched upon Rumanian exile affairs in general and referred in particular to the recently organized Rumanian National Committee.1
The General said that the Committee was greatly handicapped by lack of funds and that during its initial meeting the question had been raised of employing for the Committee’s purposes the funds available to the Cretzianu-Visoianu-Buzesti2 group. However, although he believed that this group had substantial resources, they had been unwilling to make available a single sou to the Committee. (Radescu evidently had reference to the Rumanian Government funds which in 1945 Visoianu placed at the disposal of Cretzianu in an account in Switzerland and which at that time amounted to six million Swiss francs.)
Radescu expressed the view that it would be a good thing if the Rumanian private assets blocked in the US could be used for the activities of this Committee, which would make repayment after Rumania’s liberation. We did not encourage the General to expect that any such scheme would be possible.
The General apparently favored centering the direction of Rumanian exile affairs in the new National Committee and indicated that he would be prepared to dissolve the Democratic Union of Free Romanians which had been organized previously under this leadership if the so-called “parties group” were similarly prepared to dissolve its Council of Rumanian Political Parties.
According to Radescu, however, the Buzesti faction had not shown any disposition to dissolve the separate parties organization and consequently, pending further developments, the General intended to maintain in being his Union.
General Radescu called attention to the plight of Rumanian intellectuals. He said that the Communists are destroying the intellectuals within Rumania and that those who are outside are particularly important to the future of the nation. He hoped, therefore, that measures could be taken to save these people from poverty and to preserve their capacities intact. Although we did not discuss the matter with Radescu, it would seem that any American responsibilities in this regard might be met more appropriately by the work of private American organizations than directly by the Department.
- Niculescu telephoned Nickels from New York on April 6 to inform the Department of State that agreement had just been reached among Romanian exile leaders on the formation of a Romanian National Committee under the presidency of General Rădescu (memorandum of telephone conversation, by Nickels, April 6, 1949: 871.00/4–649). Airgram A–841, May 16, from Paris, not printed, reported on the formal announcement of the formation of the Romanian National Committee during a function in Paris on May 10 (871.00/5–1649).↩
- Alexander Cretzianu, former Romanian Minister to Turkey; Constantin Visoianu, former Romanian Foreign Minister; Grigore Niculescu-Buzesti, former Romanian Foreign Minister.↩