Nicolae Ceauşescu  Ceauşescu, Nicolae (nēkŏlĪˈ
choushĕsˈkō) [key], 1918–89, Romanian statesman. The son of a
peasant, he early became active in the Romanian Communist
movement and was arrested as a revolutionary; he spent the late
1930s and early 40s in prison, where he became acquainted with
the future first secretary of the Romanian Communist party,
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Escaping in 1944, Ceauşescu held a
variety of posts within Communist party and government ranks
after the Communist takeover in 1948. He soon became a member of
the party's central committee and then, in 1955, a member of the
politburo. Upon Gheorghiu-Dej's death in Mar., 1965, he was
chosen first secretary of the central committee of the Communist
party and in Dec., 1967, he assumed the office of president of
the state council, or head of state. As supreme leader, he
continued his mentor's policy of nationalism and independence
from the USSR within the context of Marxism-Leninism. He
promoted closer relations with the People's Republic o