Message to America from Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito

As part of this year's Bicentennial observances, TIME asked leaders of nations around the world to address the American people through the pages of TIME on how they view the U.S. and what they hope, and expect, from the nation in the years ahead. This message from President Tito of Yugoslavia is the fifth in a series.

I wish to extend my most cordial congratulations to the American people on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the United States of America, the anniversary of that historic day when, as a result of the struggle by men and women of the "New World" for liberation from colonial oppression and foreign domination, a revolutionary political charter--the Declaration of Independence--was proclaimed.

This struggle and the Declaration manifested a number of illuminating truths that have survived the past two centuries and inspired many generations. These truths are that all men are equal before the law, that national sovereignty is the highest principle, and that to live in freedom and independence is the sacred and inviolate right of man.

The proclamation of human rights and democratic political principles has exercised significant impact on many a similar document as well as on liberation movements all over the world. The vitality of these principles has been corroborated by history. They not only have opened the prospects of free development and the building up of the United States of America and of the American nation but also have encouraged other nations in their struggle for freedom and independence.

Impressive achievements both in the material and the spiritual spheres have sprung out of the powerful and rich resources with which nature has endowed the United States of America, as well as from the diligent hands and the creative genius of the immigrants from many countries of other continents. That is why we too recall with pride many sons and daughters of Yugoslav descent who have contributed by their work to the development of America. These numerous Americans originating in Yugoslavia have been, and will remain a living link of friendship between Yugoslavia and the U.S.

Such famous figures as the scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla and Physicist Michael Pupin come to our memory. So do the names of the violinist and philanthropist Zlatko Balokovic, one of the founders and chairman of the Society of Friends of New Yugoslavia in the U.S.; of Louis Adamic, the author and publicist; Ivan Mestrovic, great genius of sculpture; and many others.

Many of our people live and work throughout the U.S.

They maintain regular contacts with "the old country" and their relatives. They were those who actively supported Yugoslavia during the second World War and helped in the postwar reconstruction of the devastated old homeland.

The peoples of Yugoslavia and of the United States were held together in the most crucial years of this century, fighting as allies in the two World Wars. Our two countries were among the founding members of the United Nations organization after the second World War, and since have continuously promoted their traditionally friendly relations and mutual cooperation based on equality.

The celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States of America, in which our country is also taking part, offers us the opportunity to express once again our faith in further successful development of cooperation, notwithstanding some differences in views and stances.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a non-aligned country, has been striving to have respect for independence become the basic criterion of international behavior. This is the lasting principle of our foreign policy.

For more than 15 years, nonaligned countries have drawn attention to the deep roots of instability in the contemporary world. They have been exerting efforts toward finding solutions to acute world problems and further consolidating forces desiring active peaceful coexistence and relaxation of tensions in international relations.

Yugoslavia has pledged itself to the easing of tensions beyond the narrow framework of big-power relations, so as to encompass all regions and all spheres of international relations. The existing hotbeds of crisis, which can at any moment become a source of new conflicts, should be eliminated as a matter of urgency, in conformity with the charter and relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

We have reached a historic watershed on the road of creating new constructive and humane political and economic relations among nations, relations that would make it possible for mankind to live without apprehension for their future, to develop without constraints utilizing all achievements created by the human mind.

We in Yugoslavia are highly appreciative of and admire the progress made in science and technology and accomplishments in other spheres of creativity in the U.S. These impressive results become eventually a common property of mankind. We hope that in the future the United States of America will contribute even more to overall human progress, to life in peace and freedom.

In extending our best wishes to the American people on this great Bicentennial occasion, we should like to wish also for further promotion of cooperation and strengthening of friendship between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the United States of America.

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