Vin Americanii! - General Population

General Population

A January 1946 article in the popular magazine Viaţa Românească suggested that Romanians had been awaiting Americans' arrival since World War II, and hyperbolically presented the "benefits" of the bombing of Bucharest: "We waited for a long time and most of us thought we had waited in vain... But behold, something did come. These planes. Apparently destructive, they in fact brought salvation. Each American bomb was dropped in the service of high ideals of humanity, freedom, respect for human dignity and security".

The Soviet occupation, de facto begun in late August 1944, launched the "vin americanii" hope in earnest, but this was accentuated after November 1946, when the Communists won an election through intimidation and probable fraud, liquidated the opposition National Peasants' Party in July 1947, and forced King Michael to abdicate that December. These events made them realise that Communism could only be defeated through outside intervention. As American envoy Rudolf E. Schoenfeld reported in August 1948, "The most frequently heard question addressed by a Romanian to an American, when he dares speak to one, is: Why don't you do anything?" According to archives of the Interior Ministry, which took the possibility of intervention seriously, anti-communist and anti-Soviet statements by people were common in 1946-47, and truly widespread in 1948. Quite often, these statements expressed hope that the King and the historic political parties would come back to rule after an American intervention. In 1946, rumour that war would begin was persistent, and would be continually recorded until 1950. Some believed the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in February 1947 meant war; in May that year, it was thought Americans had bombed Soviet troops near Buzău; while that summer, rumours of an imminent war were prevalent in the northwest of the country. In advance of the farcical 1948 election, numerous pro-American leaflets and graffiti were discovered, which continued into the next year. Among the messages found were "long live the republicans until the arrival of the Americans" and, written in Hungarian in Miercurea-Ciuc, "long live the American and British armies that will free the people from communist dictatorship".

Invasion rumours were often very precise, specifying the date and manner armed intervention would take. One scenario involved troops disembarking en masse at Constanţa on the Black Sea, brought over from Greece or Turkey. Another saw as many as 60,000 airplanes bombing strategic targets and driving out the Communists. Voice of America reports were amplified or distorted: for instance, when news of King Michael's meeting with President Harry S. Truman was broadcast in April 1948, it was said in Brăila that the latter had assured him he would soon regain his throne, and in Bucharest, that he would be back home before Easter.

At the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1953, a number of young Romanians approached Western journalists, given a rare opportunity to make their opinions known to the outside world. They tended to be discouraged but still awaited American help, a hope boosted by the Korean War. One of them gave a written message to a US journalist: "Romanians put all their hopes in the American people. Everyone has understood that 1953 is the year of liberation. The Romanian people remains silent, with an open wound. But at the first chance we get, we will erupt. You have already seen the misery in which Romanian peasants live. They are ready to destroy communism at the first opportunity. Please transmit to the American people the greetings of Romanians subjugated by the red beasts".