The Romulo reader

by Carlos P. Romulo

163 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Carlos Peña Rómulo was a Filipino diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He is the co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.
He graduated from the University of the Philippines, (BA) 1918; Columbia University, New York City, (MA), 1921, Received from Notre Dame University, Indiana, Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa), 1935; Rollins College, Florida, Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa), 1946; University of Athens, Greece, Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa), 1948, University of the Philippines, Honorary Doctor of Laws, April 1949, Harvard University, Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa, 1950.
Rómulo served eight Philippine presidents from President Manuel L. Quezon to President Ferdinand Marcos as a cabinet member or as the country’s representative to the United States and to the United Nations.
He served as the President of the Fourth Session of United Nations General Assembly from 1949-1950, and chairman of the United Nations Security Council. He had served with General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, was Ambassador to the United States, and became the first Asian to win the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942. The Pulitzer Prize website says Carlos P. Rómulo of Philippine Herald was awarded "For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia."
He served as Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States Congress from 1944 to 1946. He was the signatory for the Philippines to the United Nations Charter when it was founded in 1946. He was the Philippines' Secretary (Minister from 1973 to 1984) of Foreign Affairs under President Elpidio Quirino from 1950 to 1952, under President Diosdado Macapagal from 1963 to 1964 and under President Ferdinand Marcos from 1968 to 1984.
In his career in the United Nations, Rómulo was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom and decolonization. During the selection of the UN's official seal, he looked over the seal-to-be and asked, "Where is the Philippines?" US Senator Warren Austin, head of the selection committee, explained, "It's too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot." "I want that dot!" insisted Rómulo. Today, a tiny dot between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea can be found on the UN seal. In 1948 in Paris, France, at the third UN General Assembly, he strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by Andrei Vishinsky, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: "You are just a little man from a little country." In return, Rómulo replied, "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!", leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down. He was a candidate for the position of United Nations Secretary-General in 1953, but did not win. Instead, he returned to the Philippines and was a candidate for the nomination as the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, but lost at the party convention to the incumbent Elpidio Quirino, who ran unsuccessfully for re-election against Ramon Magsaysay. Quirino had agreed to a secret ballot at the convention, but after the convention opened, the president demanded an open roll-call voting, leaving the delegates no choice but supporting Quirino, the candidate of the party machine. Feeling betrayed, Rómulo left the Liberal Party and became national campaign manager of Magsaysay, the candidate of the opposing Nacionalista Party who won the election.
In April 1955 he led the Philippines' delegation to the Asian-African Conference at Bandung.
Rómulo wrote and published 18 books, which included 'The United' (novel), 'I Walked with Heroes' (autobiography), 'I Saw the Fall of the Philippines', 'Mother America' and 'I See the Philippines Rise' (war-time memo

Reviews

[Harold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful peek at a bygone era. Some language is apt for its time but doesn’t age well. The ideas especially a couple of the essays here are timeless. Though the book spends much time piecing together Romulo’s war years from a book that has long gone out of print.

[Febby Kirstin Ibita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring. The man is pure brilliance.