At the Fourteenth Party Congress of the Communist Party (November 20–24, 1989), he became a member of the Central Committee of the PCR, to which he belonged until December 22 of that year. Gușă was a key figure during the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. He was part of the team of generals sent by Nicolae Ceaușescu to Timișoara on December 17, being present there during the repression from December 17–20, in which 73 people died. After returning to Bucharest, he appeared many times during those days live on radio and television, asking for a ceasefire. In his capacity as Chief of the General Staff, he refused to ask for the help of Soviet troops or other Warsaw Pact countries to assist the Romanian Army restore order. From December 22 to 26, he was a member of the Council of the National Salvation Front (FSN). Film director Sergiu Nicolaescu, an active participant in the Revolution and a member of the FSN, alleged in the media that Gușă tried to organize a coup d'état on December 23, but he could not muster support from the Army. On 28 December, shortly after the execution of Ceaușescu, he was dismissed from his position as Chief of the General Staff and was named chief of staff of the 4th Army, with headquarters in Cluj-Napoca. In January 1990 he was promoted to lieutenant general, and the next month he became Commanding Officer of the 2nd Army, with headquarters in Buzău.