ABSTRACT

This chapter first introduces the Romanian context by trying to analyze the decision-making process towards the Romanian emigration flow that took place in Bucharest. By expanding on the legacies of a long-standing "infatuation" with United States (US) diplomacy by the Romanian regime, it explores the legacies of previous administrations on the American orientation towards Nicolae Ceausescu in the early 1980s. The chapter expands on the Romanian liquidity crisis and links it to the development of US–Romanian relations in the early 1980s. Then, it provides the case study of the "Romanian education tax", which relies on the assumption that Ronald Reagan's foreign policy towards Eastern Europe was led by security and anti-Soviet ideological considerations. The chapter finally explores the US domestic debate over Romanian human rights practices after 1982, endorsing the argument that Reagan's human rights agenda was mainly set by the attention that US Congress placed on the Romanian question.