Courteous, Correct & Cold

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Yugoslavia's Communist President Tito has long hankered to tread Washington's official red carpet. He almost got there as Eisenhower's guest in 1957, but church groups, veterans' organizations and politicians raised such a fuss that his proposed state visit was called off. He got as far as Manhattan in 1960, when he addressed the United Nations and chatted with Ike at the Waldorf-Astoria. But still nobody asked him to come on down to Washington--and Tito's feelings were hurt. Last week, at the invitation of President Kennedy, Tito, 71, finally made the grade.

Kennedy was anxious to shore up Yugoslavia's status as a "neutral," seemingly dissident Communist country. But to protect his own domestic political position, the President arranged a welcome that was courteous, correct--and about as cold as a stripper in a snowstorm.

When the news of Tito's visit was released, there were predictable protests. In California, a scheduled stopover on Tito's ten-day itinerary, demonstrators hanged him in effigy from trees, fences and buildings, even drowned him in effigy at a ferry terminal in San Pedro. In the Senate, Democrats Frank Lausche of Ohio and Tom Dodd of Connecticut blasted the visit, and Barry Goldwater, referring to the White House boycott of South Viet Nam's Mme. Ngo Dinh Nhu (see following story), complained: "We are dining with our enemy and slapping our friends in the face."

But the reaction was nowhere near as violent as it had been in 1951, and so the state visit was consummated. Fresh from a month-long tour of Brazil, Chile, Bolivia and Mexico, Tito flew into Virginia's Langley Air Force Base a full hour ahead of schedule. It was not that he was overanxious--just that he was operating on Standard Time instead of Daylight-Saving Time. From Langley, Tito and his statuesque wife Jovanka, 39, drove to colonial Williamsburg and spent 30 minutes touring the town that the Rockefellers restored to 18th century authenticity at an expense of $72 million. Their home for the night was Williamsburg's 200-year-old Allen-Byrd House.

By the Book. The following morning a jet-powered helicopter zipped the visitors to Washington, but had to spend several minutes circling the Washington Monument because they had arrived too early. Below, 100 Serbs and Croatians from points as distant as Detroit and Chicago picketed the White House, carrying placards inscribed,

MURDERER, RED PIG and J.F.K., DON'T SHAKE HANDS WITH THE KILLER.

J.F.K. did shake hands, but he saw to it that no cameraman recorded the event. Even the customary rocking-chair photos were ruled out in favor of a stiff shot of Kennedy and Tito facing each other across a conference table. Everything was done according to the book, from the traditional 21-gun salute to a luncheon for 59 guests at the White House--but without notable enthusiasm. After lunch, Tito and Jovanka took in Washington's sights, but the route of their ten-limousine motorcade was kept so secret--to avoid demonstrations-that puzzled pedestrians along the way asked, "Who is it?" No Yugoslav flags decorated the thoroughfares--only some Irish banners left over from Prime Minister Sean Lemass' visit earlier in the week.

Between eating and rubbernecking, Tito squeezed in 2 1/2 hours of talks with Kennedy, speaking in Serbo-Croatian but following Kennedy's remarks without the help of a translator. High among the topics discussed was last year's cancellation by Congress of Yugoslavia's most-favored-nation status in trade with the U.S. Kennedy promised to see what he could do to restore it, but his chances of persuading Congress are dim.

Return Visit. Afterward, in a bland communique, the two Presidents hailed the nuclear test ban as "a significant initial step in lessening international tension," called for "further progress" in "reducing the danger of war," and expressed hope for an expansion of economic, cultural and scientific exchanges between the U.S. and Yugoslavia. Tito thanked the U.S. for some $2.5 billion in military and economic aid since his 1948 break with Stalin, and for its help in the recent Skoplje earthquake. To house 10,000 of the 100,000 people left homeless by the quake, Kennedy announced that the U.S. would also send Yugoslavia surplus Army barracks from storehouses in France. Finally, Administration officials let it be known that Kennedy had accepted an invitation to visit Yugoslavia--at a deliberately unspecified date.

That was it. Precisely five hours and 45 minutes after he arrived at the White House, Tito was hustled off again. Worn by the pace and by the sudden change in climate and elevation from 1 1/2-milehigh Mexico City, Tito returned to the Allen-Byrd House feeling ill, had nothing but two bowls of consomme for dinner. His personal physicians discovered that he was running a slight fever (100.2DEG), diagnosed it as a mild case of influenza. His scheduled trip to Yosemite National Park and San Fran cisco was canceled, which probably came as a relief to Administration officials who were worried about demonstrations. Disneyland was not on Tito's itinerary to begin with.

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