Constantin Angelescu | |
|---|---|
 Constantin Angelescu | |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Romania in the United States | |
| In office January 15, 1918 – March 16, 1918 | |
| Succeeded by | Nicolae Lahovary |
| Prime Minister of Romania | |
| In office December 30, 1933 – January 3, 1934 | |
| Monarch | Carol II |
| Preceded by | Ion G. Duca |
| Succeeded by | Gheorghe Tătărescu |
| Minister of Public Instruction, Religious Affairs, and the Arts | |
| In office November 14, 1933 – January 3, 1934 | |
| Prime Minister | Ion G. Duca Himself |
| Preceded by | Dimitrie Gusti |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| Minister of Public Instruction | |
| In office January 5, 1934 – November 14, 1937 | |
| Prime Minister | Gheorghe Tătărescu |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | Ion Petrovici |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1869-06-10)June 10, 1869 |
| Died | September 14, 1948(1948-09-14) (aged 79) |
| Political party | National Liberal Party (until 1935) Romanian Front (1935–1938) National Renaissance Front (1938–1940) |
| Profession | Diplomat,politician,physician |
Constantin Angelescu (10 June 1869[1] – 14 September 1948) was aRomanianpolitician who served as ad interim/actingPrime Minister of Romania for five days, between 30 December 1933 and 3 January 1934.
He was: Doctor of Medicine in Paris, Plenipotentiary Minister in the United States (1917–1918),[2] Minister of Public Works and Communications, of the Instruction and Cults several times, Prime Minister after the death of I.G. Duca, professor and director of the surgical clinic at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest.[3]
Constantin Angelescu was born in 1869 in the family of Dumitru Angelescu (father), a merchant from Craiova, and of Theodore (mother), maiden name Geblescu, whose family was related to theCraiovești family. After the years of education at Obedeanu primary school and atCarol I National College, he studied medicine in Paris. In 1897, in France, he has had his specialization insurgery. He came back to the country, worked in surgery department ofBrâncovenesc Hospital [ro], then, at theFilantropia Hospital [ro], becoming professor (1903) and director of the University of Surgery Clinic. By marrying Virginia Constantinescu-Monteoru, the daughter of millionaireGrigore Monteoru [ro], he became the owner of the Sărata Monteoru spas, some ofpetroleum land and real estate in theBuzău area.
Dr. Angelescu started his political career within theNational Liberal Party. In 1901, Angelescu became an MP and senator, and later, the minister of public works (1914–1916) and minister of public guidance. As Minister of Public Works in the Government ofIon I. C. Brătianu, he was especially charged with the organization of the Romanian military service, with Romania's entry intoWorld War I. The supporter for the accession to theTriple Entente caused the annoyance of the prime minister who had dismissed him during the establishing of the national union coalition. In 1917, during the evacuation of the government and king toIași, Angelescu lived for a short time inOdesa, and then returned to the country. In January–March 1918 he was appointed as Romania's first plenipotentiary minister inWashington, D.C. Then in 1918, he was the Deputy Chairman of the National Council for Romanian Unity established byTake Ionescu in Paris.
Later he was the Minister of Public Guidance in Governments chaired by Ion I.C. Bratianu, and then byIon G. Duca, during which he made important reforms of modernizing education in Romania, as a continuation of those launched in the previous century and in the beginning of the 20th century by his mentor and uncle, within the alliance,Spiru Haret. His motto was: "School as much as possible! School as good as possible! School as Romanian as possible!" The constitutional text on education, as it was formulated on March 29, 1923 was based on the principles of freedom of education, compulsory primary education and free primary education. He contributed to the adoption of the Law on the state primary education and of the normal-primary education of June 26, 1924, to the uniformity of the education system in Romania.[4] In 1925, he reestablished baccalaureate examinations.[5]
Over time, relations with Ion I.C. Bratianu improved, and Dr. Angelescu was next to him in the moments after the assassination attempt in 1904 and in the last hours of his life in 1927, when he closely supervised the medical-surgical treatment he had given.
After the assassination of Prime MinisterIon G. Duca, he was for four days interim prime minister, forced to give way toGheorghe Tătărescu. He eventually accepted to be the minister of national education in the cabinet headed by Tatarescu.
In 1938–1940, during the royal dictatorship ofCarol II of Romania, Dr. Angelescu served as State Secretary (in the government chaired byPatriarch Miron of Romania) and then a royal counselor. He is one of the members of the Crown Council chaired by Carol II who voted for the cession of Bessarabia and northern Bucovina to the Soviet Union following the ultimatum given to Romania on June 26, 1940.[6] Together withDinu Brătianu, he was against theSecond Vienna Award.
Over 24 years, Dr. Constantin Angelescu was the president of theRomanian Athenaeum (1923–1947), and between 1941–1947 he was president of the Cultural League.
On 24 May 1934 he was elected honorary member of theRomanian Academy.
He was a founding member of theRomanian Academy of Sciences.[7]
According to some sources, in 1943, together with Dr.Nicolae Lupu, he proposed to re-establish the right of the Jews to free practice, as it had been taken by theAntisemitism legislation of 1940.[8]
In September 1948 he died at the French hospital Vincent de Paul in Bucharest. Death freed him from arrest and detention in communist prisons.
He had three daughters: Elizabeth, Ioana, and Elena, and three sons: Grigore, Alexander, and Constantine. His daughter, Elisabeth Angelescu, married mathematicianAlexandru Ghika; their son, Grigore Ghika, became a physicist. His daughter Ioana (Jeanne) Angelescu married Ștefan Ghika–Budești, geologist, correspondent member of the Romanian Academy, the son of the architect Nicolae Ghika-Budești. And his third daughter, Elena, was married to diplomat George Valimărescu. His son, Constantin C. Angelescu Monteoru (1905–2000), was a professor of constitutional law, dean of the law faculty at theUniversity of Iași. In the years of Stalinist repression, he was deported to theDanube–Black Sea Canal. His daughter, Ioana Angelescu, employed byRadio Free Europe, married George Angelescu, a musician.
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