RUMANIA: Bear Fact

Ceauşescu gets another prize

Some unkind critics might think that Rumania's party boss, Nicolae Ceauşescu, was trying to encourage a, well, cult of personality. Bronze heads and busts cast in his image dot the country. He has twice been declared a Hero of the Socialist Republic of Rumania. His uniform as commander in chief of the Rumanian armed forces is encrusted with medals. He has been acclaimed in the adulatory party press for "exceptional creativeness in philosophy, political economy, history, education, science and culture." Now, as a fitting cap to this imposing catalogue of achievements, awards and encomiums, the...

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