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Between eating and rubbernecking, Tito squeezed in 2½ hours of talks with Kennedy, speaking in Serbo-Croatian but following Kennedy's remarks without the help of a translator. High among the topics discussed was last year's cancellation by Congress of Yugoslavia's most-favored-nation status in trade with the U.S. Kennedy promised to see what he could do to restore it, but his chances of persuading Congress are dim.
Return Visit. Afterward, in a bland communique, the two Presidents hailed the nuclear test ban as "a significant initial step in lessening international tension," called for "further progress" in "reducing the danger of war," and expressed hope for an expansion of economic, cultural and scientific exchanges between the U.S. and Yugoslavia. Tito thanked the U.S. for some $2.5 billion in military and economic aid since his 1948 break with Stalin, and for its help in the recent Skoplje earthquake. To house 10,000 of the 100,000 people left homeless by the quake, Kennedy announced that the U.S. would also send Yugoslavia surplus Army barracks from storehouses in France. Finally, Administration officials let it be known that Kennedy had accepted an invitation to visit Yugoslavia—at a deliberately unspecified date.
That was it. Precisely five hours and 45 minutes after he arrived at the White House, Tito was hustled off again. Worn by the pace and by the sudden change in climate and elevation from 1½-milehigh Mexico City, Tito returned to the Allen-Byrd House feeling ill, had nothing but two bowls of consommé for dinner. His personal physicians discovered that he was running a slight fever (100.2°), diagnosed it as a mild case of influenza. His scheduled trip to Yosemite National Park and San Fran cisco was canceled, which probably came as a relief to Administration officials who were worried about demonstrations. Disneyland was not on Tito's itinerary to begin with.