Nicolae Titulescu | |
|---|---|
 Titulescu, circa 1930 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 10 October 1934 – 28 August 1936 | |
| Monarch | Carol II |
| Preceded by | Gheorghe Tătărescu |
| Succeeded by | Victor Antonescu |
| In office 20 October 1932 – 1 October 1934 | |
| Monarch | Carol II |
| Preceded by | Alexandru Vaida-Voevod |
| Succeeded by | Gheorghe Tătărescu |
| In office 24 November 1927 – 9 November 1928 | |
| Monarch | Michael I |
| Preceded by | Ion I. C. Brătianu |
| Succeeded by | Gheorghe Mironescu |
| President of the Assembly of the League of Nations | |
| In office 1930–1932 | |
| Preceded by | José Gustavo Guerrero |
| Succeeded by | Paul Hymans |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1882-03-04)4 March 1882 |
| Died | 17 March 1941(1941-03-17) (aged 59) |
| Resting place | Cemetery atSt. Nicholas Church, Brașov |
| Spouse | Catherine Titulescu |
Nicolae Titulescu (Romanian pronunciation:[nikoˈla.etituˈlesku]; 4 March 1882 – 17 March 1941) was aRomanian politician and diplomat, at various times ambassador,finance minister, andforeign minister, and for two terms served as president of the General Assembly of theLeague of Nations (1930–32).
Nicolae Titulescu was born on 4 March 1882 inCraiova, the son of a solicitor. He grew up at his father's estate inTitulești, a commune in Romania that was later named after him. Upon graduating with honours in 1900 from theCarol I High School in Craiova, Titulescu studied law inParis, obtaining his doctorate with the thesisEssai sur une théorie des droits éventuels. In 1905, Titulescu returned to Romania as a professor of law at theUniversity of Iași, and in 1907 he moved toBucharest.
Following the Romanian elections of 1912, Titulescu became a parliamentarian with theConservative-Democratic Party led byTake Ionescu, and five years later he became a member of the government ofIon I. C. Brătianu as Minister of Finance.
In the summer of 1918, together with other prominent Romanians (Take Ionescu,Octavian Goga,Traian Vuia,Constantin Mille), Titulescu formed, inParis, the National Romanian Committee, with the purpose of promoting in international public opinion the right of the Romanian people to national unity, the committee being officially recognised as the plenipotentiaryde facto organ of the Romanian nation.
After the war, Titulescu was finance minister in thesecond Averescu government in 1920-21. He was then appointedRomanian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, a position he held on-and-off until 1936.
Beginning in 1921, Titulescu functioned as the permanent representative of Romania to theLeague of Nations inGeneva. He was chosen twice (in 1930 and 1931) to be thepresident of the General Assembly of that organization. In this capacity, he fought for the preservation of stable borders through the maintenance of peace, for good relations between both large and small neighboring states, for the respect of the sovereignty and equality of all nations in the international community, for collective security, and the prevention of aggression.[1]
In June 1936, Titulescu reacted to the buffoonery exhibited by the Italian journalists whenEmperorHaile Selassie I spoke to the League afterEthiopia had been invaded and occupied by Fascist Italy. He jumped to his feet and shouted: "To the door with the savages!" ("A la porte les sauvages!").[2]Patrick Leigh Fermor described him as "tall andmandarin-like, but with splendid histrionic gestures, and obviously a comic genius of the first order".[3]
From 1927 to 1928, Titulescu was the minister of foreign affairs, a post he held again from 1932-36. After an initial period of skepticism, he concluded that Romania needed an alliance with theSoviet Union,[4] and he conducted many negotiations with Commissar for Foreign AffairsMaxim Litvinov. These failed due to lack of support from kingCarol II and other Romanian political leaders.[5]
In 1935, Titulescu was elected a titular member of theRomanian Academy.[6]
In August 1936,KingCarol II removed Titulescu from all official positions, asking him to leave the country. Settling first inSwitzerland, he later moved toFrance. In exile, he continued in conferences and newspaper articles to propagate the idea of the preservation of peace, as he perceived the danger of the approaching war. He returned to Romania in November 1937, partly by the efforts ofIuliu Maniu.
In 1937, Titulescu again left Romania and took refuge in France. AtCannes, he denounced the Romanian fascist regime. On 17 March 1941, Titulescu died in Cannes, France following a long illness. In his will, he asked to be buried in Romania.
In 1989, after the fall ofcommunist Romania during theRomanian Revolution, the honouring of Titulescu's request became possible. On 14 March 1992, his remains were reburied in the Sfânta Ecaterina cemetery inȘcheii Brașovului, next toSt. Nicholas Church,Brașov after a difficult legal procedure organized by Jean-Paul Carteron, a French attorney. He was awardedOrder of the White Eagle and other decorations.[7]
