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The Berlin Wall's demise in November 1989 heralded the end of communist regimes across the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc. Largely peaceful movements replaced governments in nations throughout Eastern Europe- except in Romania, where the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu clung to power for weeks until he and his wife fl ed the capital city of Bucharest in the face of protests. They were soon captured, tried, and executed. Romania was the only Warsaw Pact country to experience a violent overthrow of its government after the Wall came down.
Despite Romania's turbulent transition out of communist rule, the country today boasts the fastest-growing economy in Europe, a tradition of robust centrist politics, and membership in both NATO and the European Union.
In this memoir, American attorney Alfred H. Moses, who was the U.S. ambassador to Romania from 1994 to 1997, tells the saga of how this nation on the Black Sea, the second-largest country in Eastern Europe, transitioned from "darkness to light." Moses describes how he first became involved in Romania through his leadership of the American Jewish Committee's work to help members of the country's Jewish community-which had been devastated by Nazi Germany-emigrate to Israel. From 1976 until the death of Ceaus¿escu, Moses was the main U.S. actor in a complex, and successful, mission to induce Romania to let its Jewish citizens leave, while also helping to preserve Romania's Jewish heritage.
Moses tells the story of his work with Romania's Jewish community, his interactions with the democratically elected leaders of post-communist Romania, and his service as U.S. ambassador in Bucharest as the country just began to transition out of the rubble of communism. During his time as ambassador, Moses helped build Romania's nascent democratic institutions, promoted privatization of the economy, and shepherded the nation on the path toward full integration with the West.
List of contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Part One: My Introduction to Romania
1. Ceausescu, Romania's Jews, Chief Rabbi Rosen, and Me
2. Looking Back to Explain Present-Day Romania
3. The Curtain Rises
4. Jumping in As Ambassador
Part Two: Romanian Struggles
5. Building the Case in Washington for the Bilateral Relationship with Romania and Speaking Truth to Power in Romania
6. Former President Bush in Bucharest
7. Negotiating Romania's Treaty with Hungary
8. Romania's President Comes to the Oval Office
Part Three: Romania's Democracy in Action
9. A New Year, Step-by-Step
10. Washington Pays Attention
11. A Visit from Hillary Clinton
12. Run-up to the General Election
Part Four: Changing of the Guard in Romania
13. New Faces, Old Story Lines
14. More Peace and More Business
15. A Bountiful Harvest
Epilogue: Romanian History in the Making
Glossary of People and Places
Index
About the author
Alfred H. Moses is a Washington attorney, author, and former partner in a major Washington law firm. He was special counsel to President Carter (1980-81), U.S. ambassador to Romania (1994-97), and special presidential envoy for the Cyprus conflict (1999-2001). He was national president of the American Jewish Committee immediately before becoming ambassador. Presently chairman of UN Watch (Geneva), he has written several books and numerous articles appearing in the
New York Times, the
Washington Post, and other periodicals in the United States, Europe, and Israel. In 2002 he was awarded Romania's Marc Cruce Medal (Order For Merit) by President Ion Iliescu of Romania, the only American to have been so honored.
