Tito’s Death and His Political Legacy, 1980 439
Salvador Allende. By way of consolation, Tito got the Nehru Peace Prize,
awarded by the Indian president, Varahagiri Venkata Giri. It was a balm that
could not heal the wound inflicted on his pride.^37
Tito’s HealthDiplomatic circles began speaking about Tito’s renunciation of power, or his
death, as early as the fifties. From then on the marshal was the object of care-
ful observation, recorded in numerous dispatches by ambassadors in Belgrade
or by their colleagues in the countries he visited. In 1964, the rumor spread that
he intended to retire from active political life and settle for the post of president
of the state. His friend Krajačić, who was a megalomaniac—his swimming pool
was filled with salt water transported daily from Dalmatia—began work on an
enormous residence for him where he could sojourn once retired.^38 Allegedly,
he modeled it on palaces he had seen in India, financing “Villa Zagorje” on the
outskirts of Zagreb partially with public funds and partially with illicit traffic in
cigarettes, of which Tito was aware. The villa boasted a game reserve and an
antinuclear bunker and cost 27 billion dinars. Tito did not like it and reacted
angrily when he saw it—“You have built it for you, not for me”—living there for
just a few days in total, at least at first. Later he became accustomed to the place
and started to dwell there regularly, agreeing with those who knew his tastes for
luxury, in spite of his initial protests.^39 It was not the only building Krajačić
erected for the marshal in Croatia. He boasted that he also constructed resi-
dences at Dubrovnik, Split, Brioni, Samobor, and Kumrovec, not to mention the
num erous hunting chalets that were built for Tito where he never stayed.^40
Whereas in the sixties the diplomatic dispatches spoke mainly about Tito’s
good health, in the early seventies there were ever more frequent hints of his
physical decline, which indeed at times he was aware of. Still, in July 1969,
during the delivery of letters of accreditation by the American and West Ger-
man ambassadors, Tito gave the impression of “a healthy man, more in his
sixties than in his seventies: he was mobile, agile in speech and full of spontane-
ous humor.”^41 Two years later, in November 1971, the German ambassador in
Canada, where Tito had stopped during his return trip from the United States,
reported that he appeared fresh and energetic at the start of the official cere-
monies, but soon it was possible to notice his increasing fatigue.^42
In mid-June 1971, President Richard Nixon asked the National Security
Council to prepare a study on possible scenarios related to Yugoslavia after
Tito’s “departure.”^43 In early March a joint Anglo-American Intelligence Com-
mittee had convened in London with the same task. The British even prepared
a telegram of condolences that the queen would send to Tito’s widow.^44 It was
not just protocol: in fact, the question arose about Italy’s possible reaction if