Background
Born at the estate of Florica, in Ștefănești, Argeș County, he was the son of the great Romanian statesman Ion Brătianu, and the brother of Ion I. C. Brătianu and Vintilă Brătianu.
Born at the estate of Florica, in Ștefănești, Argeș County, he was the son of the great Romanian statesman Ion Brătianu, and the brother of Ion I. C. Brătianu and Vintilă Brătianu.
He studied engineering at the Bucharest Polytechnic and at the École des mines in Paris.
Early career Although first elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Romania in 1895 (and was elected without interruption between 1910 and 1938), he held no governmental position until 1933-1934 (when he was Minister of Finance). Under Carol and Antonescu During the inter-was period, he became active in opposing the authoritarian regime of King Carol II and his Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu. Post-1945 After the August 23, 1944 Royal Coup, he was Minister without portfolio in two successive cabinets of Constantin Sănătescu.
As leader of the PNL, he was unable to slow down the accession of Romanian Communist Party to power, as the appeal of the party had suffered major blows due to "s sympathy towards Antonescu.
He sought to oppose the communists by protesting to the American and British diplomats from Bucharest. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler, the American general, portrayed the man who was supposed to fight communists: "Generally, Mr. has disappointed me as a political leader", Schuyler wrote in 1945.
"He is almost 80 and seems to be wasting his energy. Although he is very unhappy about the actual state of things, he has not offered a constructive programme for recovery, aside from a general opposition to what he calls the exorbitant and unjust demands set by Russia".
He refused to be part of the communist cabinet formed by Petru Groza on March 6, 1945.
Arrested and imprisoned without trial, he died in 1950, probably in Sighet prison.
After the assassination of Prime Minister Ion G. Duca by the Iron Guard (December 1933), he became head of the PNL.