U.S. Reaction to Romanian Violence

In this December 18 communique from the U.S. Department of State, spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler briefed the press about the recent events in Timisoara, Romania, where demonstrators protesting the forcible relocation of local minister Laszlo Tokes to another congregation had been assaulted by the government's security forces. Tutwiler's limited account of what happened reflected the efforts by the Romanian government to prevent the media from accessing the area. In the days that followed, the reports of gunfire would be confirmed and the number of casualties would be speculated at several thousand (this figure was later lowered). Despite the fact that popular protests had already led to concessions by communist authorities in several other countries in the region, the U.S. maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards the situation in the first few days following the crackdown. The tenacity with which Nicolae Ceausescu's particularly repressive regime clung to power meant that developments might not unfold in Romania the same way they had elsewhere.