In August 1944, Carlos Romulo became the final Resident Commissioner of the Philippines before the islands achieved independence. He was sworn in by Speaker Sam Rayburn with Representative Charles Bell, Insular Affairs Committee chairman, by his side. A former journalist, Romulo served as brigadier general under General Douglas MacArthur during World War II. He came to Congress with the mission of rebuilding the Philippine Islands, which were devastated after the war. He believed that this task was part of “spreading the American gospel in the Far East, the spearhead... of American democracy.”
