Un bilanţ româno-american în 1965: prima vizită a lui Mike Mansfield în România
1965 – Romanian-American Policy Review: Mike Mansfield’s First Visit to Romania

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes Romanian-American relations between 1964 and 1965, at a time when a new political stage in bilateralism began, marked by normalization and differentiated politics.The decision of pursuing autonomy toward the Soviet Union – signaled by the famous ‘Declaration from April 1964’ – intertwined with the intensification of linkages with the West. The latter could provide loans, technology and cooperation to accelerate the modernization of Romania’s economy. To a lesser extent, the West also offered political support. In May 1964, a mission led by Gheorghe Gaston Marin, the Vice-President of the Government and the President of the State Committee for Planning, was dispatched to the United States of America. The delegation may have had unrealistic expectations (e.g., obtaining the clause of the most favored nation as soon as possible), yet the visit had significant economic and political outcomes - Gaston Marin met with the US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk.One of the economic objectives pursued by Romania in its early interactions with US officials was to obtain the technology for Neoprene (synthetic rubber) production. It seemed that an agreement had been reached with the Firestone Company. Yet, in 1965, the negotiations were abandoned by the US company, after pressure from anti-communism organizations – overcoming ideological differences seemed premature.Despite this setback, other events revitalized Romanian-American relations, most importantly the visit of the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Mike Mansfield. He was a politician close to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Mansfield came to Romania in November 1965, along with other colleagues from the Senate. The visit was part of a tour of France, Poland, the Soviet Union and other states in the Far East. Even though the main topic of Mansfield’s discussions with Romanian officials was the Vietnam War, bilateral affairs were also brought up. Mansfield’s presence in Romania signaled that the US intended to deal with Bucharest differently from other East European states, thus setting in motion a complex bilateral partnership.

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