268.1122/11–2650: Telegram
The Ambassador in Yugoslavia (Allen) to the Secretary of State
557. Embassy’s 543, November 23.1 Interview with Rankovic2 was arranged at my request by Deputy Foreign Minister Mates who was somewhat hesitant at first, remarking that Minister of Interior had never dealt directly with any foreign representative. I remarked casually but pointedly that I did not believe Rankovic would refuse to see me. I began discussion with Rankovic by pointing out that exit permits for American citizens of Yugoslav origin had been first question I had taken up with Yugoslav Government following my arrival last January and that despite assurances of sympathetic consideration and many courteous discussions between Consul Heltberg3 and his Ministry, not more than 20 permits had been issued out of 300 or more we had presented. I said no single policy branded Yugoslavia as police [Page 1506] state more conspicuously than its refusal to allow residents of Yugoslavia right to leave if they wished. I recalled that matter of great concern to Yugoslavia would come before US Congress soon and that this Embassy and Department were doing what we could to obtain favorable consideration, but we could not do the job alone. Yugoslav Government must help. I emphasized that I was not bargaining food relief against 300 exit permits. I merely wanted to suggest one way in which Yugoslav Government could improve public opinion in US over night, without doing itself least harm.
Rankovic expressed appreciation for my personal interest in aid to Yugoslavia. He said he welcomed discussion and would take citizenship question in his own hands. He referred, however, to fact that although I was interested in only 300 persons, he must think of many thousands who would also demand exit permits if he established precedent, I said I did not think he ran any great risk, since every country today has strict immigration laws and even if he threw his borders wide open, no sizeable number of Yugoslavs could obtain visas to enter other countries. I said everyone in Yugoslavia who now wished to leave regarded him personally as their jailor and Yugoslavia as nationwide prison. If he liberalized his rules, he could shift most of the blame to countries which refused entry visas.
He said he knew he was regarded as devil incarnate but that for political reasons he could not let certain people leave, just as US had recently found it necessary to deny passports to certain US citizens. I said most of the persons in whom I was interested were women and children with no political connections whatever.
As regards political considerations I pointed out that Yugoslav Government’s general policy of refusing exit visas had nothing to do with ideology but was due, I was convinced, to fact that present Yugoslav regime had modeled its practices from the start, on those of the USSR. I welcomed recent indications that Yugoslav Government was moving away from its unfortunate heritage and hoped it would move much farther. However, as long as he continued to refuse elemental right of individual to emigrate, he would be following totalitarian dictatorship methods of Hitler and Stalin. If forthcoming debates in Congress showed that US public opinion was lukewarm toward Yugoslavia, at least I had done my duty by indicating one of the reasons therefor. I said I was convinced I was doing Yugoslavia a favor by speaking to him thus bluntly.
Rankovic showed no resentment throughout discussion and when I left, he invited me to take up direct with him any future problems I might have.
Sent Department 557, repeated information Paris 75.