Corneliu Mănescu (8 February 1916 – 26 June 2000) was a Romanian diplomat born in Ploiești.

[2] In 1944 he was working at the Central Statistics Bureau, and in 1948 he was appointed as one of the vice ministers of the Ministry of National Defence, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

[3] In 1959 he was named chief of the Higher Political Division of the Army, with the rank of major general.

[citation needed] In March 1989, together with five other Communist dignitaries (Gheorghe Apostol, Alexandru Bârlădeanu, Silviu Brucan, Constantin Pîrvulescu, and Grigore Răceanu), he signed the open letter known as Scrisoarea celor șase—"The Letter of the Six".

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he was part of the interim council that administered Romania in 1990 from the overthrow of the Nicolae Ceaușescu government until elections could be held.