Carlos P. Romulo

Carlos Peña Rómulo ( born January 14, 1899 in Camiling, Tarlac province; † 15 December 1985, Manila ) was a Filipino politician, diplomat and publicist.

He was a graduate of the University of the Philippines (BA, 1918) and Columbia University (MA, 1921) and in 1942 was the first Asian to win the Pulitzer Prize. He worked during the Second World War, among others, for General Douglas MacArthur. On 10 August 1944 he was appointed as a non-voting delegate ( Resident Commissioner ) in the House of Representatives of the United States, where he succeeded the retiring Joaquín Miguel Elizalde. He exercised this office until 4 July 1946, when the Philippines, previously a U.S. territory, gained their full independence.

On September 20, 1949 Romulo was elected president of the UN General Assembly and thus chaired the meeting of the fourth period. In 1953 he was nominated as General Secretary.

Rómulo was in his long career as an ambassador of his country, as head of the Philippine delegation to the UN and as chairman of the Far Eastern Commission in Washington, DC active. He served under eight Philippine presidents, from Manuel Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos. He was three times Foreign Minister of the Philippines: 1950-1952, 1963-1964 1968 and until 1984.

Carlos P. Romulo died in 1985 at the age of 86 years and is on the Philippine heroes' cemetery buried.