The Later Years 429
Broz plays behind the scenes a more and more pronounced role, which is not
always useful,” the British ambassador wrote with understatement in his dis-
patch to the Foreign Office.^206
In October 1971, during a lunch for her birthday, Jovanka claimed in the
presence of Dolanc that the 1941 massacre in Croatia would happen again if
the army did not intervene. “This time, I hope that the Serbs will not be so
naïve and reckless as to be slaughtered like sheep,” she said.^207 She told Dolanc
that she was convinced that even Tito was “a poisonous nationalist snake,” as
she overwhelmed her husband “day and night” with the information received
from Croatia, the Ustaša were at work in the republic, but he did nothing.^208
Savka Dabčević-Kučar gave this eloquent description of Jovanka’s role in the
last chapter of the Croat drama, in November 1971, when Tito decided to over-
throw the Zagreb liberals: “When we came to Karadjordjevo, I remember her
as in a picture by a Spanish master: she is there, superb, her head raised, her face
hard, barely polite. She is there, the sovereign, and looks at us from above with
satisfaction, and her eyes seem like those of an octopus.”^209
For the status she had earned in the fight against the Croatian national-
ists, and for the commitment with which she had collaborated on the non-
alignment policy, Jovanka aspired to be included in the CC of the LCY, hoping
to succeed Tito after his death. In the late sixties and early seventies she exer-
cised great influence on Tito, who allowed her to read telegrams for his eyes
o n l y.^210 In her memoirs, Savka Dabčević-Kučar affirms that it was not pos sible
to speak with the marshal about the excessive power of the Serbs in the army
in Jovanka’s presence.^211
Jovanka made many enemies with her behavior, among them Bakarić and
Kardelj, both of whom had a low opinion of her. Although for the sake of pru-
dence they did not make it known openly, she could feel their hostility and
privately reciprocated it.^212 Fearing for her life and that of her husband, she tried
to build about her a bulwark of trusted people, encouraging their rise to the top
of the state and party. During the first years of their marriage, Tito often said
to her: “It is enough that you smile!” As her power grew, however, said Slavka
Ranković, Jovanka smiled less and less, until she stopped completely and began
to take on a rather grim expression.^213 At that point the situation became tragic.
Toward the end of his life Tito was physically afraid of her, so much so that
he would lock himself in the bathroom at night to keep her away from him.^214
As he told his confidantes, Jovanka could have been a supervisor in the South
African gold mines, where the workers were treated with the whip.^215
One episode in July 1972 testifies to the change in their relationship. On the
eve of Tito’s departure for the Soviet Union she claimed that Lieutenant Colo-
nel Slavko Popović, the marshal’s military attendant, should stay at home, since