Corneliu Mănescu

Corneliu Mănescu
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania
In office March 20, 1961 – August 20, 1965
President	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Preceded by	Avram Bunaciu
Succeeded by	George Macovescu
In office August 21, 1965 – October 18, 1972
President	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Personal details
Born	(1916-02-08)February 8, 1916 Ploiești, Romania
Died	Bucharest, Romania

Corneliu Mănescu (February 8, 1916 – June 26, 2000) was a Romanian diplomat born in Ploiești. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania from 1961 to 1972 and as President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1967 to 1968.

Life and political career

After completing his secondary studies in Ploiești, Mănescu went on to study law and economics at the University of Bucharest from 1936 to 1940. He joined the Romanian Communist Party in 1936.

While a student, he began writing for leftist publications, mostly about international relations. He was the leader of the Bucharest Communist students' organization until 1940.

In 1944 he was working at the Central Statistics Bureau, and in 1948 he was appointed as one of the vice ministers of the Ministry of National Defence, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1952 he was named head of the Army's Central Military Club, and in 1959 as chief of the Higher Political Division of the Army, with the rank of major general. Between 1955 and 1960 he was vicepresident of the State Planning Committee.

In 1960, Mănescu became Director of the Political Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1960 to 1961, he served as Ambassador to Hungary. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in March 1961, a post in which he remained until 1972. Other important posts he held were that of vice president of the United Socialist Front, president of the Romanian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, ambassador to France (1977-1982).

Mănescu, who became a member of Romanian Communist Party's Central Committee in 1965, was the first communist elected president of the UN General Assembly.

In 1989, he became the leader of the reformist movement within the Romanian Communist Party. In March 1989, together with five other Communist dignitaries (Gheorghe Apostol, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Silviu Brucan, Constantin Pîrvulescu, and Grigore Răceanu), he signed the open letter known as Scrisoarea celor șase—"The Letter of the Six". After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he was part of the interim council that administered Romania in 1990 from the overthrow of the Nicolae Ceaușescu government until elections could be held.

Mănescu married Doina Dobrescu in 1950. They had a daughter, Alexandra. He died in a hospital on June 26, 2000 in Bucharest, Romania.

External links

• Short bio, at un.org
• Gabriel Partos, "Obituary: Corneliu Mănescu", The Independent, June 30, 2000

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Abdul Rahman Pazhwak	President of the United Nations General Assembly 1967–1968	Succeeded by Emilio Arenales Catalán