Tito – Harriman: History of a Special Friendship
Keywords:
Josip Broz Tito, Averell Harriman, friendship, United States of America, Yugoslavia, cooperationAbstract
In this text, the author discusses Yugoslav-American relations through the prism of the personal relationship between Josip Broz Tito and Averell Harriman. The mentioned indicates that the acquaintance of Tito and Harriman dates back to the time of the Second World War when they met in Moscow in 1944. In the decades that followed, it turned into friendly relations that lasted until the death of Josip Broz in 1980. Ever since the split between Yugoslavia and the USSR in 1948, Harriman became one of the most vocal supporters of Tito’s Yugoslavia among members of the so-called Washington establishment. That is why the United States of America, when the Democratic Party was in power in this country, used to send him for talks with Tito when certain delicate bilateral or international problems had to be resolved, and the Yugoslavs often used Harriman as an intermediary for communication with the top of the administration in Washington. The paper is based on unpublished and published historical sources and relevant literature.
References
[1] The Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Political Archive.
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Published sources
[1] Milošević Miladin i Bogetić Dragan, prir., Jugoslavija – Sjedinjene Američke Države: susreti i razgovori najviših zvaničnika Jugoslavije i SAD, 1955–1980, Arhiv Jugoslavije, Beograd, 2017.
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[1] “Harriman Confers with Tito on Aid”, The New York Times, 26th August 1951, p. 20.
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[1] V. O Pecatnov, Avrell Harriman’s Mission to Moscow, https://academiccommons. columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-0cms-yx56/download (12th November 2023)
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