Vin Americanii! - Disillusionment

Disillusionment

Anticipation gradually gave way to resignation and disappointment as the 1950s wore on, but it was only after the failure of the United States to intervene during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 that hope for similar action in Romania was swept away. As historian Florin Constantinescu notes, "A strange phenomenon of collective psychology was the strong and enduring belief that the West and above all the USA would pull Romania from beneath the Soviet boot. 'Vin americanii' was an expression that summarized a political attitude but also a state of mind. These resisted all proof of disinterest in Western capitals toward the countries left behind the 'Iron Curtain' and only after the crushing of the Hungarian revolution by the Red Army in 1956, beneath the passive gaze of the West, did Eastern Europeans, among them Romanians, begin to abandon their hopes and face reality". People turned to different ways of coping: flight, or the hope of flight; mental escape (Western music, yoga, bridge); and adopting Western lifestyles, to the extent this was possible.

In 2005, the Americans did finally announce they would come when an accord was reached allowing them a permanent base at Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport near Constanţa. The Communist regime had long since been overthrown, however, and the expression "vin americanii!" was used in a more jocular or ironic fashion this time around. A similar pattern took place in 2011 when the United States announced plans to set up a missile defence system in Deveselu Commune. The 2007 film California Dreamin' also plays on the theme: one of its protagonists suffered as a boy during the bombing of Bucharest and his parents, who eagerly awaited the Americans, were instead arrested by the Soviets, so he is quite resentful toward the American troops who finally arrive in his village in 1999 to take part in operations for the Kosovo War. Additionally, the phrase was heard in 1995 when Romania's first McDonald's opened in Bucharest.