Talk with Tito

The koshava, a snow-bearing wind reported to be from Russia, had blocked the road, but the army broke out an infantry company to shovel it clear so that Tito could attend the annual dinner of the foreign correspondents who work in Belgrade. There, the 62-year-old dictator, rejecting native rakija in favor of three Martinis, swapped opinions convivially until an unprecedented 1:15 a.m. He talked of Milovan Djilas, the vice president he had stripped of all offices for being soft on democracy. He loved the man, said Tito, but politically Djilas is through for good. Mr. Djilas is a talented writer, the dictator added thoughtfully --perhaps he can find work in the literary field.

Tito thought that relations with Russia since Stalin's death were very little better than before ("We want normal relations," he later explained, "but, naturally, there need not be friendly relations"). A correspondent wondered what Italian personality had made the greatest impression on him. Tito hemmed. Not necessarily a political personality, said the correspondent hastily. Oh, said Tito, in that case--Gina Lollobrigida, (Four years ago, before his marriage to a 28-year-old ex-partisan, Tito admitted to somewhat different cinema favorites: cowboys and Laurel & Hardy.)

Later, to a group of touring U.S. editors, Tito unburdened himself on one other matter. He was very much concerned, said Communist Tito, that the actions of Wisconsin's Senator Joseph McCarthy were undermining the U.S. Government's prestige abroad, and might spoil Europe's good opinion of the U.S. way of life.

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