38 Facts About Take Ionescu

Take Ionescu was the brother of renowned surgeon and political activist Thoma Ionescu, who was his collaborator on several political projects.

Take Ionescu is remembered for promoting Nicolae Titulescu, who went on to have a successful career as a diplomat and politician, and for his friendships with the dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale and the Greek politician Eleftherios Venizelos.

Take Ionescu became President of the Bar association in Ilfov County, in which capacity he welcomed the first-ever Romanian woman lawyer, Sarmiza Bilcescu.

In 1899, Take Ionescu took the side of Jewish scientist Lazar Saineanu, endorsing his naturalization in front of opposition from the antisemitic faction among the National Liberals, and helped bring the matter for renewed discussion in the Senate.

Take Ionescu helped the scholar earn credentials by overseeing his conversion from Judaism to the Romanian Orthodox Church, and serving as his godfather.

However, by the end of the same year, Take Ionescu had mysteriously changed in mind: he voted in favor of complicating naturalization procedures for Jews and, as Education Minister, stripped Saineanu of his honorary teaching position within the University of Bucharest.

Take Ionescu contemplated a future Balkan federation, and in a 1903 interview, argued that, although such a solution was "impossible for the moment", it "could perhaps be accomplished some day".

Additionally, Take Ionescu supported the Vlach cause in the Ottoman-ruled regions of the Balkans, and supported the recognition of a "Kutzovlach ethnicity".

Take Ionescu sided with the Conservative Nicolae Filipescu, who shared his views on the issue of Transylvania, and provoked a conflict within his grouping at a time when the PNL was strengthening itself by incorporating a large part of the Romanian Social Democratic Workers' Party.

Take Ionescu held up estate leaseholders as a productive social class, and approved of repressive measures to the point where he initiated the decision taken by his cabinet to resign, to be replaced by that of the PNL's Dimitrie Sturdza.

Take Ionescu argued that such demands went against regulations on the free market and property.

Additionally, one of Take Ionescu's proposals, regarding the establishment of an agricultural bank won support from both parties.

Take Ionescu broke away from the Conservative Party and founded the Conservative-Democratic Party in early 1908.

Take Ionescu stressed his principles in opposing Socialism, indicating that he mistrusted its ability to reconcile with "maintaining freedom".

Additionally, Take Ionescu made mention of reforming the census suffrage enshrined in the 1866 Constitution, and expressed support for a single electoral college to replace the three wealth-based ones in existence at the time.

Repeatedly calling on Carp to include PCD ministers in his executive, Take Ionescu sided with Bratianu in May 1911, during the scandal erupting over Bucharest's tram system.

Take Ionescu continued to advise caution in respect to his country's policies in the Balkans, and argued that Romania should not offend any of the three other kingdoms in the region.

In November 1913, Take Ionescu left for Athens with King Carol's approval, mediating between the Ottoman envoy Mehmed Talat Pasha, a member of the Young Turks, and the Greek executive.

Take Ionescu was received in triumph, and managed to seal a deal between the two states, receiving in return public thanks from both governments, as well as the honorary citizenship of Athens.

Since the treaty was disadvantageous to defeated Bulgaria, Take Ionescu was allegedly the target of an assassination attempt.

Take Ionescu ultimately promised Luzzatti that all Jewish veterans of the Second Balkan War were going to be awarded Romanian citizenship, but the policy was overturned by the PNL's Ion I C Bratianu executive, coming to power in January 1914.

Xeni recounted that Take Ionescu had displayed a degree of sympathy with King Carol's position, contending that the monarch was not entirely opposed to joining the Entente in its war effort.

Take Ionescu expressed a view that the new policy was "demagogy", intended to bring the PCD into government, and contrasted Ionescu's claim to represent popular interest with his refusal to accept land reform and universal suffrage.

Take Ionescu kept close contacts with Entente politicians, and notably with the prominent French Radical-Socialist Georges Clemenceau, who described him as "a great European, albeit Romanian down to his marrow, having for his country the highest and most legitimate of ambitions".

Take Ionescu was at the forefront of a major grouping of various public figures who, despite differences in politics, supported an alliance with France and Britain, including Nicolae Filipescu, Constantin Istrati, Octavian Goga, Vasile Lucaciu, Barbu Stefanescu-Delavrancea, Nicolae Iorga, Simion Mandrescu, Ioan Cantacuzino, Nicolae Xenopol, N D Cocea, Constantin Mille, as well as Take Ionescu's brother Thoma.

Take Ionescu was brought to office as a Vice-Premier and Minister Secretary of State, in a War Cabinet headed by the PNL's leader Bratianu, serving between July 1917 and January 1918.

Take Ionescu returned to his country in autumn 1919, with a design to form a single political group of democratic persuasion, stressing Conservative accomplishments, while aiming to persuade the PNL to back electoral reform.

At the time, Argetoianu indicated, Take Ionescu viewed himself as a favorite of the Allied governments, and, while maintaining close relations with Averescu, refused to discuss a fusion.

Take Ionescu was again brought to a cabinet position between 1920 and 1921, replacing Duiliu Zamfirescu as Foreign Minister in the Averescu cabinet.

Take Ionescu began looking for an agreement with Bolshevist Russia over the issue of Bessarabia and the Romanian Treasure, but bilateral relations remained tense.

Inside the cabinet, Take Ionescu successfully promoted Nicolae Titulescu and Dimitrie Greceanu, but had to accept the former's resignation in late 1920, after Titulescu cited irreconcilable differences in political ideology and reproached Take Ionescu the fact that he had intervened in financial affairs.

Take Ionescu was ultimately prime minister for one month, from 17 December 1921, until 19 January 1922.

Take Ionescu resigned after a motion of no confidence, which Ferdinand hoped to see bringing Averescu back to power, but was instead faced with a new PNL majority, formed after the 1922 elections.

Take Ionescu was buried in the inner courtyard of Sinaia Monastery, inside a marble crypt having quotes from his speeches carved into its walls, and in the vicinity of a fir tree planted in 1848 by a group of Wallachian revolutionaries.

Spiritele anului 3000, authored when Take Ionescu was just 17, is thought to be one of the first works of science fiction in Romanian literature.

Take Ionescu's enduring admiration and support for countries in the Anglosphere and for the British Empire was reflected in contemporary popular culture.

The monument was notably criticized by architectural historian Grigore Take Ionescu, who argued that it was "an inferior replica of Ion Bratianu's monument".

Under the Communist regime, Alexandrina Ecaterina Woroniecki was allowed to continue residing in the house Take Ionescu had built for her in the proximity of Soseaua Kiseleff, but had to share her lodging with a section of the Republican Art Museum, and was assigned a room on the underground floor.