Assignment: Bucharest: An American Diplomat’s View of the Communist Takeover of Romania

Written by an American diplomat who served in Romania from 1947 to 1950, during the time of the Communist takeover of the country, Assignment: Bucharest relates the author’s experiences as director of a Western information program in the Communist-controlled country.

A transparently autobiographical novel, it is an unforgiving indictment of a government with which the United States still maintained diplomatic relations. Although written in the form of a novel, the book is a factual description of the events surrounding the Communist takeover of Romania. His insightful descriptions of Romanian personalities give this book its enduring importance.

Assignment: Bucharest is enriched by an introductory study by Ernest H. Latham, Jr., himself a former American diplomat in Romania during the years of the Communist regime.

The author, Donald Dunham, had a distinguished career in the foreign service, serving as Public Affairs Officer at the American Legation in Bucharest from 1947 to 1950. He worked in various capacities at the United Nations from 1962 until his retirement in 1984. His other books include Envoy Unextraordinary and Kremlin Target: U.S.A.: Conquest by Propaganda.

The author, Donald Dunham, had a distinguished career in the foreign service, serving as Public Affairs Officer at the American Legation in Bucharest from 1947 to 1950. He worked in various capacities at the United Nations from 1962 until his retirement in 1984. His other books include Envoy Unextraordinary and Kremlin Target: U.S.A.: Conquest by Propaganda.

Octavian Goga was born in Rasinari, near Sibiu, and attended Eötvös Loránd University. Goga was a Romanian politician, an active member in the Romanian nationalist movement in Transylvania, a poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. His most popular books include Poezii, A Prayer, Ne cheama pamântul, and Cântece fara tara. He died on May 7, 1938, in Ciucea, Romania. Ernest H. Latham, Jr. is an American historian and diplomat. He served as the American cultural attaché in Romania between 1983 and 1987. He is the author of Timeless and Transitory, and numerous articles and reviews about Romania. He edited and reintroduced Athene Palace by Countess R. Waldeck, republished in several editions and translations. He revised the entries on Romania for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, edition 2000. He was a Fulbright Professor in Romania, at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and at the University of Bucharest. Kurt Hielscher (1881-1948) was one of the most famous German photographers of the interwar period. He was renowned for his books portraying various countries of Europe.