Constantin Argetoianu ( – 6 February 1955) was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between 28 September and 23 November 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri ("Memoirs. For those of tomorrow. Recollections of yesterday's world")—a cross section of Romanian society, were made known for the sharp critique of several major figures in Romanian politics (using a sarcastic tone which had made his previous political speeches notorious). Biography Early life Born in Craiova as the son of Army general , he trained in Law, Medicine, and Letters at the University of Paris, and later entered the diplomatic service (1897). He was an exceptionally prosperous man (a noted Stock Exchange player and landowner in Breasta, Dolj County), and his frequent change in political allegiances was attributed by some of his contemporaries to his financial independence. In 1913 he served as a combat medic with the rank of captain in the Second Balkan War, where he faced a cholera epidemic. World War I A Freemason, Argetoianu was first elected to the Senate in 1914 as a Conservative Party representative, where he oscillated between the mainstream Conservatives of Petre P. Carp and the dissident group around Take Ionescu (the latter was welcoming Romania's entry into World War I on the side of the Entente Powers, which Argetoianu also proposed). Throughout 1918, during the final stages of the Romanian Campaign, Argetoianu was Justice Minister, sitting on the first Averescu cabinet (at the time when authorities had retreated to Iași, once the southern half of the country was occupied by Imperial German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian troops). He was also head of the Romanian delegation at the Peace preliminaries of Buftea, in 1918. The talks resulted in the punitive Treaty of Bucharest of May, which consecrated Romania's defeat by the Central Powers. His actions at the time were later the subject of an epigram by Cincinat Pavelescu (Pavelescu expressed his belief that the treaty and Argetoianu's views on fiscal policies were to be the subject of scorn for future generations): People's Party Argetoianu followed Averescu into opposition to the Brătianu National Liberal Party (PNL) cabinet, and joined the People's Party (PP) created by the former. He later documented the populist message of the movement, and left testimonies of Averescu's spontaneous adulation by the crowds of peasants. Argetoianu