A LONG FRIENDSHIP
Romania and the United States share a long-standing friendship, the two countries established diplomatic relations on June 14, 1880.
A STRONG PARTNERSHIP
Defined today as one of the fundamental pillars of Romania’s foreign policy, the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States remains a key milestone on Romania’s Euro-Atlantic pathway for the past 25 years.
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Did you know?
The first U.S. diplomatic representative to Romania was Eugene Schuyler?
He was appointed after the United States recognized the Kingdom of Romania Independence, and he was a Minister Resident and a Consul General in Romania, Serbia and Greece, with his residence to Athens. He delivered his credentials to Prince Charles I on December 14, 1880 and he was reaccredited when Romania became a kingdom. An American scientist, writer, traveler and diplomat, Eugene Schuyler even managed to learn the Romanian language and in 1885 he became an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.
Romania’s first head of mission in the United States was Dr. Constantin Angelescu?
A scientist, diplomat and politician, Constantin Angelescu is considered the reformer of the Romanian education system in the interwar period, when he was a minister of public education, and he promoted the Law on primary education, which established, among others, the baccalaureate in Romania.
In October 1926, Queen Mary began her famous visit to the United States, arousing the interest and acclaim of the whole country?
The visit of Queen Mary of Romania to the United States became a sensational event at the time. After meeting with the U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and the mayor of New York, a city where thousands of people took to the streets to cheer her, the queen met with the leaders of the Sioux and Blackfoot Indian tribes. „No other public figure in Romania had behaved more patriotically than this queen of foreign blood”, according to the New York Times.
Romanian-American soldiers fought in the American Civil War?
Among them were General George Pomutz (left) and Captain Nicolae Dunca (right).
George Pomutz (1818-1882) enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 as a lieutenant in the 15th Iowa Infantry. In August 1864 he was offered command of the 15th Iowa Regiment, being promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1865, in recognition of his military merits, the U.S. Senate awarded him the rank of brigadier general. After the war, he was appointed to the position of United States consul in St. Petersburg (Russia).
Nicolae Dunca (1837-1862) enlisted in the Union Army in March 1862, being appointed captain in the 12th New York Infantry Regiment. He lost his life in the Battle of Cross Keys on June 8, 1862. He was buried at Perkey’s Farm, Cross Keys, Virginia, and his remains were later transferred to the Staunton National Cemetery in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.
The first telephone line between Romania and the United States was inaugurated on November 9, 1931
The first telephone line between Romania and the United States was inaugurated on November 9, 1931, through a conversation between the Romanian minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitrie I. Ghica, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson? The telephone conversation took place at 17.00, Bucharest time, and 10.00, Washington time, respectively. The inauguration of the telephone line between Romania and the United States was reflected in both the Romanian and American press, including in the weekly press release of the Department of State, which noted the great command of English that Dimitrie I. Ghica had.
In December 1926, the newspaper Universul published a map of the distribution of Romanians in the USA?
Romanians in America. Romanians in the USA state distribution (map) (Universul, an 64, nr. 288, December 11, 1926, p. 1). According to the map, most Romanians were in the states of New York – 40,053 and Ohio – 13,067.
On September 3, 1933, the day dedicated to Romania takes place at the Chicago World’s Fair?
The American authorities had invited Romania to take part in the fair, but due to the effect of the Great Depression in 1929, the Romanian authorities announced that, for financial reasons, our country will not participate. In this context, Romanians in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, rallied to ensure a Romanian participation at this international event. Thus, under the coordination of the Union and the League of Romanian Societies in America, a „Romanian Day” („Zi românească”) was organized at the fair.
A large part of the art objects brought by Romania for the New York World’s Fair (1939-1940), are today at the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral „Saint Mary” in Cleveland, Ohio?
Inaugurated on April 30, 1939, the fair took place at Flushing Meadows and the general commissioner of the Romanian pavilion was academician Dimitrie Gusti. Romania presented two buildings: the Romanian Pavilion (architect G.M. Cantacuzino) and the Romanian House (architect Octav Doicescu). The artistic section consisted of paintings by Nicolae Grigorescu, Ion Andreescu, Theodor Pallady, Gheorghe Petrașcu, sculptures by Cornel Medrea, Oscar Han, Mihai Onofrei, Mac Constantinescu, Milița Petrașcu, Ion Jalea.
The Romanian Library in New York was established in 1969?
This is the forerunner of the current Romanian Cultural Institute, and of the „Nicolae Iorga” department at Columbia University (1971), as well as of several Romanian language lectureships now existing in the USA.
In 1972 the course “Romanian Civilization” is introduced at the University of Columbia in New York?
The course was inaugurated by the great historian Constantin C. Giurescu who, upon return to Romania, drafted a report that stated: “The inaugural lecture was printed and distributed by me to over a hundred and ten personalities, officials, professors, doctoral candidates and students. A copy (…) was sent to the President of the United States Richard Nixon who, on April 10, 1972, replied by a kind letter, that he signed personally”.
The Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States was launched 25 years ago, on July 11, 1997, on the occasion of the visit to Bucharest of U.S. President Bill Clinton?
He was the first U.S. President to visit Romania after the fall of communism and he was greeted by over 100.000 people in the University Square. “Stay the course. Stay the course. The future is yours. In the meantime, your President and I have agreed to establish a strategic partnership between our nations”, stated President Clinton in his speech.
On November 23, 2002 a rainbow appeared above the Revolution Square during the official visit of the U.S. President George W. Bush to Romania
“At the moment when President Ion Iliescu was introducing me, the rain stopped and a very clear rainbow appeared. It stretched across the sky to the back of the balcony that was illuminated as a memorial to freedom. It was an amazing moment, and I whispered: « Today, God is smiling on us», noted George W. Bush in his memoir “Decision Points”.
President George W. Bush visited Romania after the historic decision taken at the NATO Summit in Prague, when our country was invited to join the North Atlantic Alliance.
In 2011, the Agreement between Romania and the United States of America on the Deployment of the United States Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania was signed and that construction works of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Site in Deveselu started in 2013?
The ceremony for the certification of the operational capacity of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System (AAMDS) of the Deveselu Military Base took place three years later, in 2016.
In 1998 President Emil Constantinescu became the first and only Romanian leader that addressed the U.S. Congress in joint session?
The First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, visited Romania in May 2022?
Together with the wife of the President of Romania, Carmen Iohannis, Dr. Jill Biden visited the “Uruguay” Secondary School in Bucharest, which hosts Ukrainian refugee students, and met with refugee mothers and teachers from Ukraine.
Romania is the most pro-American country in the European Union?
80% of Romanians have positive feelings toward the USA. Romania is a champion state in promoting the transatlantic relationship.
Up to one million Romanian-Americans live and work in the United States?
The largest communities of Romanians are in California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona, and Washington.
Romania is one of the few countries in the world with a complete nuclear cycle?
Romania will be the first country to build a next-generation nuclear power station using U.S.-designed small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
Between January and March 1930, the historian Nicolae Iorga made a long journey through the USA, where he visited 20 cities, being welcomed by the Romanian-American community and where he met with U.S. President Herbert Hoover?
Following the visit, Nicolae Iorga published the volume of travel notes “America and Romanians from America” and held seven public conferences about the visit at the National Theater in Bucharest.
The first edition of the Romanian Film Festival in Washington D.C. took place in 2017?
On this occasion, over 3,000 viewers participated in the festival during which 15 films, holders of 121 international awards, were presented under the title “Reinventing Realism — New Cinema from Romania”.
The first issue of the New York Romanian Library Bulletin was published in January 1972?
A photo from the first round of negotiations of the Agreement between Romania and the U.S. on the location of the ballistic missile defense system was inserted into a “Time Capsule”?
On November 17, 2014, in Bucharest, Bogdan Aurescu, State Secretary for Strategic Affairs, places in the “Time capsule” a picture from the first round of negotiations of the Agreement between Romania and the United States of America on the location of the ballistic missile defense system of the USA in Romania, on the occasion of the Mast Stepping Ceremony dedicated to the base in Deveselu.
On April 16, 2007, Liviu Librescu, a Romanian–American scientist and engineer at Virginia Tech University and a survivor of the Holocaust, sacrificed his life defending his students from an attacker he prevented from entering his classroom?
Professor Liviu Librescu (1930- 2007) was shot through the classroom door that he had blocked to protect his students and give them time to escape.
Professor Librescu was a prominent academic. His major research fields were aeroelasticity and aerodynamics.
Liviu Librescu was posthumously awarded, by the President of Romania, with the Order of the Star of Romania in high appreciation and gratitude for all scientific and academic work and for the heroism shown during the tragic events at Virginia Tech University.