November 27, 1952
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
Participants: Ambassador Popovitch, of Yugoslavia with his counselor Mr. Acheson
The Yugoslav Ambassador, Mr. Popovitch, called on me at his request. He was accompanied by a man whom he described as his counselor to the UN, who acted as interpreter.
The Ambassador asked me what I thought about the Korean discussion in Committee I. I said that I hoped that the latest revision of the Indian draft, as further modified by the Danish amendment, would be adopted today as unanimously as possible. It seemed to me that further discussion would not be productive. The Ambassador seemed to agree and stated that it was his view that the other side did not wish an armistice in Korea at present.
The Ambassador then asked me whether I thought there would be any new developments when the new Administration took power, so far as relations with his country were concerned. I said that I did not anticipate anything of this sort. I thought that General Eisenhower understood fully the importance of the increasing good relations with Yugoslavia and our common interest in the defense of Europe. Knowing the confidence which General Eisenhower had in General Handy, I felt sure that he would continue to exercise that confidence. I said that the military discussions had, I thought, been a useful beginning and, while they had not proceeded quite as far as might have been possible, they were a further indication of progress in our mutual relations.
The Ambassador then asked me to do what I could to further the requests which the Ambassador had made to the Acting Secretary for assistance in connection with the drought in Yugoslavia. I said that these matters were all in the hands of Mr. Bruce, but that when I returned to Washington I would confer with him and do what I could to be of assistance.
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The Ambassador then asked whether I could make any general observation of interest to his country which he could report. I said that he would be able to get an observation of that sort which would be much more pertinent from the Acting Secretary since he was in entire charge of the Department and I was concentrating on matters before the General Assembly. I could only say, as I had said so many times to the Ambassador, that I was happy to see closer relations growing between Yugoslavia and the United States and also between Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. All of this seemed to me in furtherance of our common interest in defense. As the Ambassador well knew, I continued to be disturbed at the lack of progress in reaching a settlement of the Trieste question. It seemed to me clear that a really effective cooperation in the military field depended in the long run upon better relations between Yugoslavia and Italy and this, in turn, depended upon the solution of Trieste. I continued to feel, as I had so often said, that if both sides would approach this matter in a spirit of goodwill and mutual adjustment, the matter could be solved.
The Ambassador said that he did not think the Italians wished to solve the problem; that after Mr. Eden's visit to Yugoslavia his country had been attacked in the Italian press, and that Yugoslavia's experience of Italian policy had been so long and so difficult that his countrymen were inclined to be less hopeful than others who were less intimately concerned.
I said that I did not wish to be in a position of an advocate of either country before the other. I wished to advocate only one thing, and that is that a solution should be reached. I felt it could be reached if both sides would approach it with a real desire to solve it and in the spirit of goodwill. However, I did not wish to turn our meeting into a discussion of Trieste but since he had asked me for a general observation I could not overlook what seemed to me to be the most important question still unsolved.
The Ambassador then thanked me for what I had done in the past years in improving relations with his country and, on departing, again referred to his request that I do what I could to help in the matter of the drought assistance to his country.
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