Carlos P. Romulo

Carlos Peña Romulo Sr. GCS CLH NA GCrM GCrGH KGCR (January 14, 1899 – December 15, 1985) was a Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US Army and the Philippine Army, university president, and president of the United Nations General Assembly.

He has been named as one of the Philippines's national artists in literature, and was the recipient of many other honors and honorary degrees.

Romulo believed in anti-colonialism and internationalism, as well as held Pro-American, anti-communist, anti-fascist, and economically and politically liberal beliefs.

Carlos Romulo was born in Intramuros, Manila on January 14, 1899. His parents were Pangasinense. His father fought against the United States in the Philippine-American War. His father transitioned to working for the U.S. government in the Philippines after the war, rising through the ranks as town councilor, mayor, and eventually the governor of Tarlac province.

He studied at the Camiling Central Elementary School during his basic education.

Romulo became a professor of English at the University of the Philippines in 1923. Simultaneously, Romulo served as the secretary to the president of the Senate of the Philippines, Manuel Quezon.

During the 1930s, Romulo became the publisher and editor of The Philippines Herald, and one of his reporters was Yay Panlilio. On October 31, 1936, the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) was given a legislative charter under Commonwealth Act No. 111. Romulo served as one of the vice presidents of the organization.

At the start of World War II, Romulo, a major, served as an aide to General Douglas MacArthur. He was one of the last men evacuated from the Philippines before the surrender of U.S. Forces to the invading Japanese, as illness had prevented him from departing with MacArthur, finally leaving from Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao on April 25. Active in propaganda efforts, particularly through the lecture circuit, after reaching the United States, he became a member of President Quezon's War Cabinet, being appointed Secretary of Information in 1943. He reached the rank of general by the end of the war.