During one meeting with the Yugoslav premier, Luketich complained that only a dirt road linked his father's old village with the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
"Within a year, they asphalted the road," recalled Luketich, mayor of Cokeburg and president of the Croatian Fraternal Union with 80,000 members in the United States and Canada.
Once, a Croatian immigrant living in Ohio returned to his homeland and was jailed for criticizing Tito's communist regime. At 3 a.m., his frantic wife sought help from Luketich, who picked up the telephone and won the man's release in days...
...Luketich has a photograph of himself with Tito, Tito's wife, Jovanka, and then-CFU President John Badovinac. The 1973 photo was taken at a reception, and Luketich recalled Tito ridiculing the local wine, saying it tasted like vinegar and should be served on lettuce. "He liked to joke around," Luketich said. "I mean, he was down to earth. In fact, you could even criticize and he would listen."
...Their families yoked by Communism, Croatian emigrants disagreed on how to approach Yugoslavia. Some wanted nothing to do with Tito; others, including Luketich and fellow CFU leaders, advocated a policy of engagement at the risk of their lives.
In 1975, police foiled a plot to assassinate Badovinac. The scheme unraveled after two ex-convicts were stopped for speeding in Ohio. In the car, police found weapons and newspaper clippings with Badovinac's name underlined in red. Police concluded the hit men had been hired by Croatian extremists upset about the CFU's relations with Tito.
Also that year, Badovinac, Luketich and other CFU officials received letters warning they would be killed if they won re-election at the CFU convention.
In June 1977, Badovinac's home was bombed. Two weeks later, Luketich went to the restroom during a Croatian picnic in Milwaukee.
"Are you Luketich?" a voice said. Three men attacked him, using a piece of pipe. Luketich went to a hospital for treatment.
When Luketich took over the CFU in 1978, the group's ties with Tito remained intact.
As a result, Luketich said, he was able to help the jailed Ohio man, and the Tamburitzans made the trips Rukavina called so important to Croatia. He said he also was able to secure visas for outspoken immigrants who wanted to visit relatives in Croatia....