5 - Carlos Romulo, Rotary Internationalism, and Conservative Anticolonialism

Summary

The anticolonial career of Philippine newspaper editor, diplomat, and UN fixture Carlos P. Romulo (1899–1985) provides a unique and useful entry point into the anticolonial transnationals of the twentieth century. Pro-American, anti-communist, economically and politically liberal, Romulo is the kind of anticolonial internationalist who often gets left out of the recent scholarly turn to the international thought, practices, and implications of anticolonialism. However, through his early writings, newspaper columns, and personal papers, Romulo’s anticolonial vision of the international emerges, even if it was not a radical vision. Through his membership of the Rotary Club and his admiration for Wilsonian internationalism, Romulo developed a vision of the international as “club,” which he applied throughout his career, from the 1930s to the 1950s.