438 Tito’s Death and His Political Legacy, 1980
The cult of personality could have been crowned by a Nobel Peace Prize, and
Tito’s name was put forward by Pierre Grégoire, the president of the parlia-
ment of Luxembourg. When the unofficial confirmation came from Oslo that
Tito had been included on the short list of candidates, a special task force was
formed to assure him the necessary national and international support. The
Yugoslav ambassadors abroad were asked to recruit prestigious supporters to his
cause.^29 About a hundred statesmen of rank—among them Willy Brandt, Indira
Gandhi, Haile Selassie, U Thant, Urho Kekkonen, Habib Bourguiba, and
Nahum Goldmann—but also writers and famous artists—Ivo Andrić, Fitzroy
Maclean, and Charlie Chaplin—supported the three-hundred-page proposal
supporting his candidacy, written by Vladimir Dedijer and the Slovenian soci-
ologist Rudi Rizman. The Yugoslav diplomats considered it appropriate to ask
for the support of the Holy See. The papal secretary of state, Cardinal Agostino
Casaroli, had no objection, nor did the Zagreb cardinal Franjo Kuharić (although
he asked for the rehabilitation of Alojzije Stepinac in return, affirming that this
was necessary to keep the conservatives in the Vatican and the Yugoslav epis-
copal conference quiet).^30 The Holy Synod of the Serb Orthodox Church was
more reserved, preferring not to weigh in on the candidacy.^31
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which supported his candidature with a
special, published declaration, wound up doing Tito a disservice, because this
had a negative effect in the West.^32 It seems that his candidacy was unsuc-
cessful because of opposition from the United States and the “Jewish lobby,”
who had not forgotten his pro-Arab policy, and also because of the protests of
Yugoslav émigrés, starting with Ljubo Sirc, a Slovenian economist who was
sentenced to death after the war but managed to escape to Great Britain, where
he made a name as specialist for Eastern Europe. In his lengthy memorandum,
he convincingly enumerated all of Tito’s sins.^33 The king of Norway allegedly
tried to save his candidature, counseling the marshal to make amends, at least
for Goli Otok. “If I should ask the forgiveness of anybody,” he replied, offended,
“it would be to those who died there without guilt. To Cominformists, I do not
intend to apologize.”^34
The unofficial explanation by the Nobel Prize Committee for his rejection
was naturally different. Tito was a military man and as such he could not get a
peace prize.^35 Considering the role he had played on the world stage and that
Yugoslavia, thanks almost exclusively to his efforts, was held as one of the ten
most influential countries in the international arena, the decision might be
thought unjust.^36 That year the prize was shared by the Vietnamese diplomat
and general, Le Duc Tho, and the American secretary of state, Henry Kissinger,
who had brought the Vietnam War to an end but had also been responsible for
the bombardments of Hanoi and for the overthrow of the Chilean president,