The Invisible Man

With the exception of the deceased, the most talked about man at Tito's funeral last week was Jimmy Carter.

The reason: perplexity over Carter's decision to pass up an extraordinary international gathering and a chance to underscore personally the U.S. commitment to Yugoslavia's continuing independence. Neither the Administration's expressions of sympathy and support for the country's new leaders nor the presence of the U.S. delegation headed by Vice President Walter Mondale could erase the widespread feeling that Carter had committed yet another foreign policy blunder.

Officials in Belgrade diplomatically declared that "we don't measure the feelings of the government by the level of the delegation." But the Yugoslavs' chagrin was expressed privately in many quarters. Reflecting the sharp reactions of the European allies, a Bonn Chancellery official said: "Carter is conspicuous by his absence. Once again he has been outmaneuvered, and took bad advice." The most scathing comment was made by the London Times, which editorially declared "that the United States is being led by a man who is not just muddled, but is in some way blind to whole areas of reality."

Not everyone in the Administration failed to see the importance of the event. U.S. Ambassador Lawrence Eagleburger and other State Department officials in Belgrade strongly urged Carter to go. But he had virtually made up his mind weeks ago. The key aides involved in the decision President month. foreign policy experts but two domestic political advisers, White House Chief of Staff two domestic political advisers, White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan and Press Secretary Jody Powell.

Their rationale: Carter's presence among so many world leaders would not make that great an impact; domestic problems were too pressing to justify a trip to a ceremonial affair; the Yugoslav leaders would be too distracted to engage in significant talks; moreover, it would not look good to American voters for the President to be flying overseas when he has barely begun to travel at home for the first time in six months. When Moscow announced at the last minute that Leonid Brezhnev would attend, it was too late for Carter to change course without looking even more indecisive.

None of the arguments was very convincing. Other world leaders used the occasion to make useful contacts with their peers; Britain's Margaret Thatcher, who also faces severe domestic problems on the economic front, found the time to spend 24 hours in Belgrade; Yugoslavia's new leaders would have welcomed the chance to meet the American President; and many U.S. voters would undoubtedly have recognized that Carter had valid reasons of state for taking the trip.

Seemingly unprepared for the wave of criticism, White House officials insisted that Carter's absence was neither intended as a snub nor taken as such by Belgrade. Ambassador Eagleburger told reporters in Belgrade: "You are wrong if you presume that the embassy knows that there is great unhappiness with the [attendance of the] Vice President instead of the President." If the embassy did not know it, the White House apparently learned enough to consider adding a Belgrade stopover to Carter's scheduled trip to Italy next month.

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