The Presidential Years 305
the underdeveloped South was the worst danger to world peace. Kardelj espe-
cially supported this idea, analyzing it in dialogue with the Swedish economist
Gunnar Myrdal, but Tito also endorsed it in an interview with the London
Daily Herald by urging systematic aid for poor countries, “because this is the
first and most critical condition for the well-being of the entire world.”^211
At Cairo, Tito met Nasser for the ninth time and proposed organizing the
Non-Aligned Conference, which he had already discussed with Nkrumah,
Sukarno, and Nehru the previous autumn in New York.^212 During an excursion
on the Nile Tito tried to convince his host that Nehru also supported the idea,
although the Indian prime minister was in fact skeptical, fearing the emergence
of a “third bloc” along with the two already in existence. Veljko Mićunović,
Tito’s diplomatic counselor, reminded him of the Indian prime minister’s re-
served attitude and the marshal reacted furiously, stressing that Nehru sooner
or later would give his assent. He took this correction as an embarrassing offence,
as it implied that he was lying in front of his host. When they were alone, he
rebuked Mićunović for his insolence, since he had exposed Tito stretching the
truth. It seems that he had never before been in such an unpleasant situation,
and was so exasperated that he was unable to choke back tears when telling
General Žeželj how he had been humiliated in Nasser’s presence.^213 Mićunović
had not only dared to contradict him in front of the Egyptian leader, but in the
later confrontation he did not hide his disagreement with the marshal’s des-
potic behavior and with Jovanka’s meddling in political affairs, about which he
felt she was ignorant. He even reproached Tito for behaving like an oriental
satrap. “What you are doing costs our country a lot,” he said. “It is such a waste
that I am ashamed to be involved in it.”^214 A terrible verbal confrontation fol-
lowed, a quarrel that was only the tip of the iceberg. Actually, during the long
journey aboard the Galeb, a frosty atmosphere arose between Tito and his com-
rades, between Tito and Jovanka, and between the arrogant first lady and the
members of the entourage, who were horrified by the atmosphere in which
they found themselves, one worthy of a Byzantine court due to the autocratic
behavior of the presidential couple. Because of these reproaches, Tito experi-
enced moments of deep psychological unease, which caused him to cut off all
contact with his entourage from time to time. Dobrica Ćosić, invited to take
part in the journey in order to describe it, preferred to keep silent. But the
impressions he noted in his diary are frightening: “Tito and his comrades have
disappointed me so much that I became sick. On the Galeb, I realized that the
LCY leadership, starting with Tito, is a monarchic oligarchy, morally corrupt
and without any satiation of its thirst for power.”^215
When he got back, Tito asked that Mićunović, Leo Mates, chief of his cab-
inet, and Lazar Koliševski, one of the most important Macedonian politicians,