While in power, Vaida had an ambiguous approach to the Iron Guard, and constructed his own radical ideology; the FR had a generally xenophobic program of positive discrimination, being implicitly (and eventually explicitly) antisemitic.

The Front had its roots in the second and third governments of Vaida-Voevod (1932 and 1933), which were characterized by growing levels of antisemitism and discussions regarding the possibility of barring Jews from a number of public posts (Jewish quotas).

[6] Specifically against the Guard and other violent organizations, Vaida-Voevod passed laws limiting political freedoms and establishing curfews[7] (although he allowed the Transylvanian Saxons to form Sturmabteilung units which targeted Jews).

[18] Writing at the time, the left-wing radical journalist Petre Constantinescu-Iași claimed that the conflict also reflected differences in global orientation: Maniu's Francophile support base against Vaida's Anglo–Germanophilia.

It began to function in April 1935 (officially: on March 12), declaring itself ready to serve the king's wishes, and counting on support from traditional PNȚ voters to become the catch-all far-right group.

[55] Other PNȚ colleagues from Vaida's native Transylvania also joined the FR; major figures include Emil Hațieganu, Dionisie Roman, Gavril Iuga, and Teodor Bohățiel.

The group recruited among newcomers to politics: in late 1937, Tilea, as leader of the FR's Sibiu County branch, welcomed Generals Spiridon Mihăilescu and Ștefan Orescovici into its ranks.

[72] The schism actually contributed to disciplining the National Peasantist elites: emerging as the new party president, but feeling threatened by Maniu's potential return, Ion Mihalache hinted that he would expel the entire Transylvanian wing at any sign of revolt.

[80] One of the main points of FR policy was Vaida-Voevod's idea of minority quotas, which he termed the numerus Valachicus: the share in economy and culture "in proportion to [the Romanians'] ethnic number.

An assimilationist Jewish leader, Wilhelm Filderman, Vaida was producing messages calling for "collaboration" with exponents of right-wing Zionism, while he "condemns the Regat's Jews for joining [mainstream Romanian] political parties.

[91] As noted at the time by Vaida's rival, Constantin Argetoianu, the issue of enforced discrimination was paradoxical, since minorities were largely absent from the state apparatus; introducing quotas would have meant "opening up such careers to a significant number of Jews."

[95] Monarchist writer Ion Sân-Giorgiu claimed that Ionescu was sponsoring the FR with money that ultimately originated in Nazi Germany, and actively trying to create tensions between Vaida and Carol.

[53] In his speeches, Vaida declared that fascism was primarily a natural development of the "national-social ideas"; he claimed primordiality for Romanian nationalism, which, he believed, had been jolted into existence by the Transylvanian revolt of 1784.

[96] The Front's spokesman, Ioan Alexandru Bran-Lemeny, declared the party to be pragmatic rather than ideological, noting that it did not deal in "abstraction"—and that Maniu's belief in the "peasant state" was a "hybrid, unworkable construct".

[99] While he exercised supreme command within the FR, Vaida conceded that the state needed to be placed under the "proud king" with his sweeping powers; he chided Maniu for favoring a crowned republic.

[102] Proclaiming that "capital and labour must be subservient to the superior object of the Nation", the party program also looked to "the selection of the best elements among the children of the race" to take place within the school system.

[108] Cooperatist doctrinaire Victor Jinga additionally noted that the FR leader had shown his political incompetence by building himself a large manor in Olpret, while its "purely Romanian" villagers were living in "indescribable squalor".

They signed a pact, which allowed Vaida's followers focused on campaigning in Transylvania and the Banat; Col. Tătărescu was taking primacy in all other regions, as head of the Numerus Valachicus National Movement.

[134] In August 1935, the new FR newspaper, also titled Frontul Românesc, announced that the two groups would only agree on a "minimal platform" for government, with fusion only occurring "naturally and automatically" at some point in the future; from the PNC side, Goga put out a similarly cautious message.

[140] In early January 1936, Vaida announced that fusion was no longer being sought, and also that the FR would not field candidates in any partial elections scheduled for that year; demoralized by what he saw as Carol's machinations, he declared his intention to withdraw from politics.

[141] Despite renewed efforts by the king,[142] a complete merger between the two parties again failed to materialize, and, to the Guard's stated satisfaction, both the PNC and the FR experienced major internal dissension.

In June, following the Rhineland crisis, L'Humanité reported that the "racist parties" (the Front, the Iron Guard and the PNC) staged a march outside the French embassy in Bucharest, with chants of "Long live Hitler!

[157] This stance was ridiculed by the PNȚ youth: in a September communique, it noted that Vaida, "that old fascist parrot", was silent on the issue of Italian support for Hungarian irredentism, though this would have entailed the loss of Transylvania to Hungary.

[167] On New Year's Day 1937, Vaida sent a telegram to La Rocque and his French Social Party, which stated: "May God grant that our two countries can successfully fight for their shared ideals of peace, respect for family, and work, freely and honestly."

[171] According to left-wing journalist Emanoil Socor, the FR's response to this "defiance of stately prerogatives" was dictated by the PNC, but in fact contrasted with the moderation of regular party members.

[174] In April, the Front and the PNC were ridiculed for their anti-PNȚ alliance in Deva, which also offered an eligible position on the municipal council to Mór Lőrincz, of the local Jewish community.

The National Peasantist press noted that victory came despite a "conspiracy" between government and "right-wing parties" (PNC and FR),[177] and despite an "unhinged" propaganda campaign mounted by the extreme right "united under the Vaidist sign".

In November 1937, he participated in a secret gathering of Carlist figures, including Averescu, Brătianu, Cuza, Filipescu, the PRȚ's Grigore Iunian, and the Iron Guard's Zizi Cantacuzino.

"[197] Tilea reported to disgruntled FR members that the PNL was largely consonant with a "consolidation of Romanian forces", and that the alliance was aimed at defending Romania against encroachment by the Soviet Union, whose "tentacles extend like a spider's web over Europe in its entirety".

[224] The law was described by Mihalache as a "swindle" which borrowed and manipulated the electoral customs of Siam, and was intended to confuse voters;[225] Maniu called on the Court of Cassation to overrule it, and asked for the FR to be cited as a witness.