Radu Irimescu
Encyclopedia
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n businessman, politician, and diplomat.
The son of an admiral, Irimescu joined the Romanian Navy
Romanian Naval Forces
The Romanian Navy is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube.-History:-Development of the Romanian Navy:The Romanian Navy has been founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on the Danube...
and, being first in his class, was sent to Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, as a pre-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Romanian-German convention provided. Based in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, he was a cadet in the Imperial German Navy
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
and, again at the head of his class, was appointed a German naval officer, serving two years on a man of war, then being obliged to return to Romania. Admiral von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred von Tirpitz was a German Admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871...
himself held Irimescu in high esteem. However, he became dissatisfied with his career in the Romanian Navy: after cruising the world on a German man of war, commanding a Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
monitor
River monitor
River monitors were heavily armored, and normally mounted the largest guns of all riverine warships. The name originated from the US Navy's Brown Water Navy's USS Monitor, which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by a single revolving turret.On 18 December...
or a Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
was not very attractive to him and he left the navy after two years. He was then granted leave to attend courses at the Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
, from where he graduated with excellent marks.
During World War I, Major Irimescu served in the Romanian Air Forces and showed great skill as a pilot and as an organizer. He received a degree in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1920.
After the war, Jean Chrissoveloni, a Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
banker, tasked Irimescu with organizing the Chrissoveloni Bank in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He ran the bank from 1921 to 1928, successfully closing the branch because he sensed a financial crisis coming and because operating a foreign bank tended to be unprofitable because more burdensome business regulations were placed on such institutions. At the time, it was the only Romanian banking institution
Banking in the United States
Banking in the United States is regulated by both the federal and state governments.The U.S. banking sector's short-term liabilities as of October 11, 2008 are 15% of the gross domestic product of the United States or 43% of its national debt, and the average bank leverage ratio is 12 to...
in the United States. After it closed on April 1, 1928, Irimescu, formerly agent and manager, stayed on for a time as its representative on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
.
When Queen Marie of Romania
Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...
attended a luncheon in New York on October 22, 1926, Irimescu heaped praise upon his host country: "It is natural...that Romania should look today to America for good will and cooperation...The wealth and resources of America are stupendous. Her leadership and influence in the affairs of the world are paramount today. Her prosperity is well established and well deserved...Let us...express the wish for the continuous prosperity of the United States of America and that of the entire civilized world."
Upon his return to Romania, Irimescu, an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
, was appointed director of the Gas and Electricity Works of Bucharest. In August 1932, he was named Minister of the Air Forces in the Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod was a Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom; he later served three terms as a Prime Minister of Greater Romania.-Transylvanian politics:He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the...
National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
cabinet, with the expectation that he would upgrade and modernize his branch of the military. Additionally, he served as Minister of War
Ministry of National Defence of Romania
The Ministry of National Defense is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania. the Minister of Defense is Gabriel Oprea.-Ministry:...
for a week in August-September 1937, in Gheorghe Tătărescu
Gheorghe Tatarescu
Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...
's National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
cabinet.
In 1938 Irimescu was appointed Minister to the United States
Foreign relations of Romania
-Europe: European Union :Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. Romania also declared its public support for Turkey and Croatia joining the European Union. Romania shares a privileged economic relation with Turkey...
. This drew some concern from the American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
, as he had served in the recent Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
cabinet, which passed anti-Semitic legislation. Augustine Lonergan
Augustine Lonergan
Augustine Lonergan , of Hartford, Connecticut, was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut from 1913 to 1915, 1917 to 1921, and from 1931 to 1933. He was also a U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1933 to 1939. He was a Democrat....
, Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, forwarded these concerns to Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
. However, Hull reassured him, noting that as an aviation expert, Irimescu had served in all cabinets since that of Vaida-Voevod, regardless of party, and that he himself belonged to no party. He also mentioned that Irimescu had an American wife. The new envoy arrived in the United States with his wife on April 7, 1938, being greeted by a number of Romanians
Romanian-American
A Romanian American is a citizen of the United States who has significant Romanian heritage. For the 2000 US Census, 367,310 Americans indicated Romanian as their first ancestry, while 462,526 persons declared to have Romanian ancestry...
, including his brother Ştefan (1894-1967), active in the community. Upon his arrival he declared, "As far as I know, there is no anti-Semitism in Romania that deserves any special discussion or notice."
Also in 1938, some three months after Queen Marie died, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine printed a wry article claiming, for instance, that "she had long since been forgiven by most Rumanians for her endorsements of face creams, her exuberant U.S. junket, and the fact that in the end most of her dowagerish intrigues gained nothing for Rumania." The next month, an offended Irimescu asked in the magazine, "Has not this great Lady done anything in Her life to justify a favorable comment on your part?" To his observation that "De mortuis nil nisi bonum
De mortuis nil nisi bonum
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum is a Latin phrase which indicates that it is socially inappropriate to say anything negative about a deceased person...
", Times editors replied: "De mortuis nil hokum."
As might be expected for an ambassador, Irimescu expressed public support for the royal dictatorship established by King Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
(see National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
). For instance, in a speech given at a social event on November 26, 1938, he proclaimed that "the last twenty years of experimentation with the so-called democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
regime has shown that political parties could and would act against public interest", claiming that the new system was based on an idea "of organization, of order against chaos, of a regime of social harmony wherein the source of rights is work and one's fulfillment of one's civic obligations, and not the exploitation of the community for personal interest and rapid enrichment." He lauded the new constitution adopted in 1938, which he said "sets up an equilibrium between liberty and authority...regulates the exercise of [civic] rights for the public good...insures...a disciplined liberty" and "disposes once and for all of partisan politics and libertine democracy." He repeated similar sentiments when the constitution's second anniversary was celebrated on March 3, 1940: "The entire development of Romania in the last two years is wholly the outcome of the new Constitution."
On April 9, 1943, Irimescu wrote a letter to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
responding to criticism that Carol Davila, former Romanian Minister to the United States, had levelled against him in that newspaper. Irimescu denied having represented the National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
, claiming that as the King abdicated, he heard a Romanian Radio
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company
The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company , informally referred to as Radio Romania , is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates four national radio channels, and, under the Radio România Regional umbrella, eleven regional radio stations. The four national radio channels are: Radio...
broadcast from Bucharest that Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
had dismissed him; he wrote that he received a telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania.The current Foreign Minister is Teodor Baconschi who is an independent politician lead under the Government of Emil Boc, the current reappointed Prime Minister of Romania.- List of Ministers of...
the next day informing him of his dismissal and giving him until October 15, 1940 to pass on his account books to his successor. He stated that at the same time as his dismissal, all his property in Romania, "including bank accounts, securities, real estate" and furniture was confiscated, and that "Antonescu and his Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
cronies have persecuted me relentlessly." As evidence of his "democratic ideals" he presented the fact that he became an American citizen
United States nationality law
Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of...
in November 1941. Regarding the ongoing war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he opined that "Only a sincere cooperation of the democracies and Russia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
can rebuild the world."
Irimescu lived the rest of his life in the United States. In 1955, he was working for Floyd Odlum
Floyd Odlum
Floyd Bostwick Odlum was a wealthy lawyer and industrialist. He has been described as "possibly the only man in the United States who made a great fortune out of the Depression"...
's Atlas Corporation. That January, he attended a Motor Boat Show, buying a chrome-trimmed, 55-m.p.h. Coronado speedboat for about $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
5,500, ten minutes after the doors opened.