Office of the Historian

860H.00/7–1547

Memorandum by the Acting Chief of the Division of Southern European Affairs (Barbour)1

[Washington,] July 16, 1947.

Mr. Radoje Knejevitch,2 a member of the Yugoslav National Committee in London, called in SE on July 15 by appointment made at the request of former Yugoslav Ambassador Fotitch.3 Mr. Knejevitch presented a letter addressed to the Secretary by former Yugoslav Prime Minister Yovanovitch,4 who is now President of the Yugoslav National Committee in London, and confirmed orally the statement contained therein that he has been sent to this country by the Committee for the purpose of informing the Department of the policy and aims of the Committee and to present a memorandum from the Committee for the President in this connection. The Committee’s letter to the Secretary is attached.5

The Yugoslav National Committee in London is composed of eminent Yugoslav figures, principally of Serbian extraction, who have held various political offices from the coup d’état of March 27, 1941 throughout the period of the war-time governments in exile. A statement concerning the present composition of the Committee, also presented by Mr. Knejevitch, is likewise attached.6

Aside from the separate Croatian Peasant Party organization of which Mr. Vladimir Machek7 is head, this Yugoslav National Committee is probably the most authoritative representation of Yugoslavs outside Yugoslavia at present and as such speaks for an appreciable portion of the Yugoslav leaders who may be expected to carry weight in Yugoslavia at such time as Tito’s oppressive regime is supplanted by a representative government. In the circumstances, it is believed that it would be useful, as encouragement to the followers of the Committee, [Page 830] if the Assistant Secretary could find time to receive Mr. Knejevitch, to hear the Committee’s views.8

  1. This memorandum was directed to Assistant Secretary of State Norman Armour and to the Director of the Office of European Affairs H. Freeman Matthews. The source text bears Matthews’ handwritten endorsement “I agree HFM”.↩
  2. Radoje Knejevitch (Knejevich) was a member of the Executive Committee of the Yugoslav Democratic Party, in exile.↩
  3. Konstantin Fotitch (Fotitf) served as Yugoslav Minister and later Ambassador in Washington, 1941–1945.↩
  4. Slobodan Jovanović (Yovanovitch), Prime Minister of the Yugoslav Government in Exile, 1942–1943.↩
  5. The document under reference, which apparently was dated June 16, was not found attached to the source text.↩
  6. The document under reference was not found attached to the source text. The Yugoslav National Committee included representatives of the following Yugoslav political groupings in exile: Yugoslav National Party, Independent Democratic Party, Serbian Peasant Party, Democratic Party, and Radical Party.↩
  7. Machek, the exile leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, was residing in Paris at this time. In mid-August, he came to the United States on a visitor’s visa.↩
  8. According to a memorandum by Barbour dated August 8, not printed, Knezevich called on Assistant Secretary of State Armour on August 5. Knezevich spoke of the program of the Yugoslav National Committee and emphasized the Committee’s need for financial assistance. The Assistant Secretary “informed Mr. Knezevich that his exposition of the aims and policies of the National Committee was interesting but that the request for assistance posed a number of difficult questions”. (860H.00/8–547) Knezevich also left with Assistant Secretary Armour a letter to President Truman, dated May 19, not printed, setting forth the views of the Yugoslav National Committee on the situation in Yugoslavia. In transmitting this letter to President Truman’s secretary on September 11, Assistant Secretary Armour made the following observation:

    “It is to be noted that the Yugoslav National Committee in London is composed almost entirely of Serbs, and does not contain representatives of the Croatian Peasant Party or the Slovene Clerical Party, the largest and most important prewar political groups in those two sections of Yugoslavia.” (860H.00/8–547)

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