Born in Bucharest into an upper-class family,[1] his father Ion A. Rădulescu-Pogoneanu, a university professor, was a follower of Titu Maiorescu, while his mother Elena headed the Central School for Girls prior to 1939.
[2] Rădulescu-Pogoneanu obtained university degrees in law, philosophy and sociology[1] before entering the Foreign Ministry[3] in 1934[4] in spite of advanced paralysis in his lower body.
[4] During World War II, while a ministry employee, he took part alongside Camil Demetrescu and Grigore Niculescu-Buzești in organizing secret negotiations with the Allies.
[1] He also passed along information to Western embassies in Bucharest, alerting them to the impending danger of a communist takeover, and sent documents abroad that demonstrated the economic domination and despoilment being practiced by the country's Soviet occupiers.
In 1956, he asked for a medical examination, and the prison authorities recorded a "hostile attitude" on his part toward the leadership and staff due to complaints about his treatment.