Judging by All the Superlatives, Ceausescu Must Be One Swell Guy

When it comes to describing newly reelected Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

So for those outside Romania who found themselves at a loss for words during the Romanian party congress last week, Polish television offered a list of names frequently used to describe the iron-fisted Marxist ruler.

In modest terms, Ceausescu may be described as “the first worker in the country,” “the nation’s spokesman,” “the architect of the country,” “the great hero,” “reliable leader” and “father and friend of young people.”

Metaphorically speaking, he may be called “the sweet kiss of the land,” “the new polar star,” “the lighthouse,” “a man like a fir tree,” “the sacred oak of Romania’s glory,” “the mountain that protects the country” or “a well of living water.”

Also, he is “the treasury of wisdom,” “the prophet seeing the future,” “the marvelous impersonation of good,” “the savior,” “a man with the morality of a saint” or--quite simply--”the truth itself.”

Ceausescu, 72, Romania’s undisputed leader for the past 24 years, was unanimously elected to a new five-year term as chief of the ruling Communist Party on Friday at the close of the five-day party congress in Bucharest.