16 Facts About Constantin Argetoianu

Constantin Argetoianu was an exceptionally prosperous man, and his frequent change in political allegiances was attributed by some of his contemporaries to his financial independence.

Constantin Argetoianu was head of the Romanian delegation at the Peace preliminaries of Buftea, in 1918.

Constantin Argetoianu followed Averescu into opposition to the Bratianu National Liberal Party cabinet, and joined the People's Party created by the former.

Constantin Argetoianu later documented the populist message of the movement, and left testimonies of Averescu's spontaneous adulation by the crowds of peasants.

Constantin Argetoianu was Finance Minister and later Interior Minister in the second Averescu government of 1920.

Constantin Argetoianu, who was still in charge at the time, became the target of attacks from the opposition group formed by the Romanian National Party and the Peasants' Party, being pressed by Virgil Madgearu and Grigore Iunian to explain himself.

Constantin Argetoianu soon became noted for his anti-communist stance: he carried out arrests of those Socialist Party members who, during their party's congress in May 1921, supported a maximalist platform and voted in favor of aligning their Socialist-Communist faction with the Comintern, citing the latter's condemnation of Greater Romania; all those arrested were prosecuted in the Dealul Spirii Trial.

Constantin Argetoianu later stated that the arrest lacked legal grounds, and indicated that he purposely gave the Socialist Gheorghe Cristescu approval to hold the congress as a means to incriminate the faction.

The standoff between Averescu and the parliamentary opposition eventually witnessed a decisive incident: during a prolonged debate over Averescu's proposal to nationalize enterprises in Resita, Constantin Argetoianu addressed a mumbled insult to Madgearu; the PNL, seeing an opportunity for a return to power, expressed sympathy, and all opposition groups appealed to King Ferdinand, asking for Averescu's recall.

Nevertheless, pressures on the revolutionary grouping were relaxed in summer, when King Ferdinand approved an amnesty and Constantin Argetoianu officially declared that "communism is over in Romania".

Constantin Argetoianu was again in charge of Internal Affairs and Finance from 1931 to 1932, during the Iorga government, when he took a harsh stance against the fascist Iron Guard, outlawing it and arresting some of its members.

Constantin Argetoianu was hotly contested as Finance Minister: faced with the widespread insolvency of small agricultural holdings in front of the Great Depression, he proposed a form of liquidation that was considered in breach of the 1923 Constitution.

The frequent target of attacks in the Iron Guard press, Constantin Argetoianu led his grouping until 1938, when, faced with the unstoppable rise of the Iron Guard, Carol banned all parties and established his National Renaissance Front.

The Constantin Argetoianu government was replaced by that of Tatarescu, who had to deal with the Soviet Union's occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina and was in turn replaced with Ion Gigurtu.

Constantin Argetoianu, who was ill at the time and had just undergone surgery on his prostate, withdrew from public life for a second time.

Constantin Argetoianu died in the infamous Sighet prison five years later, never having been put on trial.