On 4 April 1975, Ceaușescu visited Japan and met with.
As anti-government protesters demonstrated in in December 1989, he perceived the demonstrations as a political threat and ordered military forces to open fire on 17 December, causing many deaths and injuries.
In October 1966, Ceaușescu and brought in one of the world's harshest anti-abortion laws, leading to a large spike in the number of Romanian infants abandoned to deplorable conditions in the.
He was elected general secretary on 22 March 1965, three days after Gheorghiu-Dej's death.