Editorial Note
Yugoslav Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade Vladimir Velebit visited Washington at the end of 1950 to obtain economic assistance from the World Bank. At a dinner given by Robert P. Joyce of the Policy Planning Staff on November 22, United States officials raised with Velebit the possibility of political support and military assistance to Yugoslavia. Without committing his government, Velebit returned to Belgrade for consultations. By December 29 Velebit was back in Washington with a detailed shopping list of military equipment and supplies needed on an emergency basis by Yugoslavia. Further discussions with Joyce and G. Frederick Reinhardt, Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs, on February 3, led to an agreement on assistance. Documentation on these conversations is in file 768.5. For Congressional testimony by General George H. Olmsted, Office of Military Assistance, Department of Defense, on the nature of the shipments to Yugoslavia, see U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Selected Executive Session Hearings of the Committee, 1951–56, volume XV, European Problems (Washington, 1980), pages 140 ff.