Romulo, Carlos Peña

Romulo, Carlos Peña (kär`lōs pā`nä rō`mlō), 1899–1986, Philippine statesman and writer. With war between the United States and Japan approaching, Romulo toured (1941) East Asia and wrote a series of articles on the military-political situation, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Romulo became (1941) a press aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. After the Philippines fell (1942) to the Japanese, he became a member of Manuel Quezon's government-in-exile, and later served (1944–46) as resident commissioner to the United States. He was a delegate to the United Nations from its inception, and was elected (1949) president of the UN General Assembly. Cofounder of the Nationalist party, he withdrew from his presidential candidacy in favor of Magsaysay. He also served intermittently as Philippine ambassador to the United States. President of the Univ. of the Philippines (1962–68), he served under President Marcos as secretary of education, and was later appointed (1968) foreign secretary. Despite the liberal politics of his early career, he supported Marcos's imposition of martial law, and came to advocate censorship. A prolific writer, his works include I Saw the Fall of the Philippines (1942), I See the Philippines Rise (1946), Crusade in Asia (1955), The Meaning of Bandung (1956), and his autobiography, I Walked with Heroes (1961).

Bibliography

See biography by H. Michaux (tr. 1986).