Gheorghe Mironescu
Gheorghe G. Mironescu, commonly known as G. G. Mironescu (1874—1949), was a Romanian politician, member of the National Peasants' Party (PNŢ), who served as a Prime Minister of Romania for two terms.
Biography
Born in Vaslui, Mironescu joined the PNŢ and became one of most its recognizable leaders, the main figure of a pro-authoritarian faction bitterly opposed to left-wing groups such as those of Nicolae L. Lupu, Petre Andrei, and Armand Călinescu.[1]
In 1930, Carol II of Romania returned incognito to Romania (with a fake passport). On the morning of June 7 1930, the Government convened Parliament in order to cancel the act of January 4, 1926, through which Carol had renounced the throne.[2] Carol was proclaimed the new King of Romania, replacing his own son Michael.
Iuliu Maniu's cabinet, in which Mironescu was Foreign Minister, resigned, and a new PNŢ government was formed, led by Gheorghe Mironescu, one which restored Carol II to the throne on June 8, 1930; on the evening of the same day, Mironescu resigned in order for the king to name the government.
His second time in office, with Ion Mihalache as Minister of Internal Affairs, was marked by the outlawing of the far right movement known as the Iron Guard and the arrest of its leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (who was later tried and acquitted).[3] Mironescu was Foreign Minister in the first two Maniu cabinets, and remained in office in the ministry for the duration of his premiership.
In early 1943, during World War II, Mironescu was given a mandate to approach the leadership of Miklós Horthy's Hungary, in an attempt by Romania's Ion Antonescu to have both countries achieve a new territorial settlement and a common withdrawal from the Axis Powers (see also Romania during World War II); he began talks with Miklós Bánffy's delegation in Bucharest (June 9), but these ended after the two sides could not agree on a future status for Northern Transylvania, a region held by Hungary at the time.[4]
Notes
References
- Keith Hitchins, România, 1866-1947, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1998 (translation of the English-language edition Rumania, 1866-1947, Oxford University Press, USA, 1994)
- Z. Ornea, Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească, Ed. Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1995
