Armand Călinescu (May 22 1893, Piteşti - 21 September 1939, Bucharest) was a Romanian economist and politician.
Călinescu was born on May 22, 1893 in the family of an army medic. Between 1912 and 1918, he studied the Law and Philosophy at University of Bucharest, then he took a Ph.D. in Economical and Political Sciences in Paris.
After his entry into politics, he was elected as member of Romanian Parliament between 1926 and 1937.
He was a staunch ally of France and Britain and a steadfast adversary of the Nazi agents in Romania. Becoming Interior Minister in March 1938, he prepared himself for the confrontation with the Iron Guard. In November 1938, Călinescu decapitated that organization by killing their leaders in prison. In 1939, after short mandats of Minister of Health and Minister of Education, on March 7 he became Prime Minister of Romania, being considered the steel-man able to prevent Iron Guard political violence and to keep Romania out of pro-Nazi war camp.
In September 1939, after the invasion of Poland, the pro-Nazi members of Iron Guard alleged that he and the king Carol II planned with the British Intelligence to blow up Prahova oil fields, preventing Germany to take control and use them. He was assassinated in Bucharest on 21 September 1939 by Iron Guard members under the direct leadership of Horia Sima, and it seems that his assassins were sent by Germany.
