Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu (; ; 26 January 1918 – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian Communist politician. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and hence the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967, serving as President of the State Council, from 1974 concurrently as President of the Republic, until his overthrow in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part of a series of anti-Communist and anti-Soviet Union uprisings in Eastern Europe that year. Born in 1918 in Scornicești, Olt County, Ceaușescu
Romanian Communist Party the Romanian political scene in August 1944, when it became involved in the royal coup that toppled the pro-Nazi government of Ion Antonescu. With support from Soviet occupation forces, the PCR was able to force King Michael I into exile, and establish undisguised Communist rule in 1948. The party operated under the title of Romanian Workers' Party from 1948 until 1965 when it was officially renamed by Nicolae Ceaușescu who had just been elected secretary general. From 1953 until 1989, it was for all intents and purposes the only legally permitted party in the country. In 1947, the Communist Party