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| 1958, July 26 |
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| The government announced the withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces. | 1 |
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| 1960, Sept. 30 |
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| Gheorghiu-Dej, first secretary of the Communist Party in Romania, affirmed the continued possibility for a neutral buffer zone in the Balkans, to be composed of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey. | 2 |
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| 1961, March 21 |
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| Bucharest radio announced a new government structure under which the presidium would be replaced by a 17-person State Council. Gheorghiu-Dej was elected council president. | 3 |
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| 1964, April 22 |
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| The Communist Party issued a declaration bluntly insisting on the full equality and independence of all communist parties and nations, and noninterference in Romania's industrialization program. Subsequently the Romanian government, while halfheartedly supporting the USSR in the ideological dispute with communist China, embarked on economic negotiations with the U.S., France, and other countries. | 4 |
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| 1965, March |
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Death of Premier Gheorghiu-Dej, who was succeeded by Nicolae Ceau escu as chief of the party. | 5 |
| Ceauescu became president of the council and thus head of state. He continued his predecessor's policy of maintaining strict internal controls, but in international affairs insisted on the full sovereignty of all nations, which meant full independence within the Communist bloc. | 6 |
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| 1966, May 10–13 |
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| Visit of the secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, to Bucharest. Ceauescu stood firm by Romanian claims and even argued for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland, East Germany, and Hungary. Romania regularly objected to having Warsaw Pact maneuvers taking place on its territory. | 7 |
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| 1967 |
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| Romania established diplomatic relations with West Germany, the first country in the Eastern bloc to do so. | 8 |
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| 1968, Aug |
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| Romania, alone among the Warsaw Pact countries, refused to contribute troops to the invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia. It firmly rejected the Soviet doctrine of “limited sovereignty” for the communist countries. | 9 |
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| 1969, June |
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| At the meeting of the Communist Parties in Moscow, the Romanian representative voted against the condemnation of Communist China, stressing again the full sovereignty of all countries. | 10 |
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| Aug. 2–3 |
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| Visit of U.S. president Richard Nixon to Bucharest, a demonstration of Western interest in Romania. The gesture was later returned when President Ceauescu visited Washington (Oct. 1970). | 11 |
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