Today in Labor History December 22, 1989: Ion Iliescu overthrew Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Communist dictator of Romania, after days of bloody protests against his repressive rule. Ceausescu and his wife were tried and convicted of genocide against the Romani people, and executed on Christmas Day, 1989. In the 1970s and 80s, Queen Elizabeth had granted him knighthood, and both the U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State George Schultz had praised the man.

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