611.68/1–1450
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Roy M. Melbourne of the Office of Eastern European Affairs
| Participants: | Mr. Dean Rusk, Deputy Under Secretary |
| His Excellency Sava Kosanovic, Yugoslav Ambassador | |
| Mr. Roy Melbourne, EE |
During the course of his interview this morning1 the Yugoslav Ambassador expressed his great pleasure at the recent US statements upon Yugoslavia, which he specified as having been made by the President and Ambassador Allen.2 He affirmed that they had a very heartening effect in Yugoslavia by “removing some of the pressure” and by serving to give the Yugoslavs a “feeling of safety”. Mr. Rusk added that he had publicly said that he was opposed to the form of economic [Page 1355] and social system operating in Yugoslavia, but that he equally maintained Yugoslavia’s right to an independent existence.3
Following Mr. Rusk’s remark, the Ambassador then offered a defense of the Yugoslav system so that the former could maintain his support of Yugoslavia “with a better conscience”. Mr. Kosanovic asserted that the only hope for the economic and social development of Yugoslavia was through Communism, that he was not a Communist, and that he had opposed the pre-war regime virtually 20 of his 25 years in politics. After the war when he and similar men had been faced with the return of what they considered to be the same political-military cliques and of King Peter4 as a symbol of Serb chauvinism, Communism had been the alternative choice made. He and others like him had believed that the idea of a Yugoslav State should be preserved and that the blame for internecine strife during the war had to be lifted from the various nationalities, like Croat or Serb, and best placed upon the pre-war institutions, among which was the monarchy.
In response to questions by Mr. Rusk concerning conditions in Yugoslavia, the Ambassador said that they were improving and that affairs would settle down even more after the pending election. There was sufficient food this winter, but that economically much progress remained to be made, although the foreign trade balance picture had recently improved. To the question whether the British loan would be of great assistance, the Ambassador said, not immediately, but that it had great future promise.
Asked if he believed the spring would bring a renewal of pressures against Yugoslavia, Ambassador Kosanovic responded by expressing his personal feeling that no guerrilla or other types of activity would be started by the USSR so long as Yugoslav economic conditions continued to improve, and thus he discounted any such Soviet actions for this spring.
- According to a separate memorandum of conversation by Melbourne, not printed, Ambassador Kosanovié had requested an interview with Deputy Under Secretary Rusk on the basis of instructions from his Government to discuss the question of Greece. Yugoslavia was concerned over the possibility of anti-democratic political Changes in the Greek Government and feared that such changes would make more difficult the prospects of improving Greek-Yugoslav relations (781.00/1–1450).↩
- George V. Allen, who was appointed Ambassador to Yugoslavia on October 27, 1949, arrived in Belgrade on January 20, 1950, and presented his credentials on January 25. On December 22, 1949, shortly before his departure for Europe, Ambassador Allen had a conversation with President Truman at the White House. At his press conference later the same day, President Truman emphasized that the United States was opposed to aggression against any country no matter where it was situated. For an account of the statements by Ambassador Allen and President Truman, see the New York Times, December 23, 1949, p. 6. For the text of President Truman’s press conference, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1949 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1964), pp. 584–587.↩
- Deputy Under Secretary Rusk was here presumably referring to remarks he made in the course of his address entitled “The Stake of Business in American Foreign Policy” made before the Boston Conference on Distribution in Boston on October 10, 1949. For the text of that address, see Department of State Bulletin, October 24, 1949, pp. 630–633.↩
- Former King Peter II of Yugoslavia, in exile since 1941.↩