The Maharaja of the Balkans

This chapter investigates the outline of Ambassador George Kennan's so-called “long telegram,” which called for patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. It explains how Kennan helped define the Marshall Plan as an instrument of US European policy. It also analyzes Marshall Tito's decision to send his people to Western capitals to establish political relations immediately after his public split with Joseph Stalin. The chapter discusses Tito's absolute split with Stalin that made Yugoslavia leave the Soviet bloc, however it did not indicate a change in Tito's ideological course. It looks at the devastating assessment of the Yugoslavian economic situation, particularly of its agricultural production, concluding that the 1947 harvest indicated shortage of staple foods, growth of inflation, and decrease of industrial production due to obsolete equipment.