Nikola Ljubičić

Nikola Ljubičić Никола Љубичић
President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Serbia
In office 5 May 1982 – 5 May 1984
Preceded by	Dobrivoje Vidić
Succeeded by	Dušan Čkrebić
3rd Federal Secretary of People's Defense
In office 18 May 1967 – 5 May 1982
President	Josip Broz Tito
Preceded by	Ivan Gošnjak
Succeeded by	Branko Mamula
2nd Serbian Representative in the Yugoslav Presidency
In office 15 May 1984 – 15 May 1989
Preceded by	Petar Stambolić
Succeeded by	Borisav Jović
Personal details
Born	(1916-04-04)4 April 1916 Karan near Užice, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	13 April 2005(2005-04-13) (aged 89) Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
Nationality	Serb
Political party	SKJ League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia
Spouse	Vera Ljubičić
Awards	Order of National Hero of Yugoslavia
Military service
Allegiance	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Branch/service	Yugoslav People's Army
Years of service	1941–1982
Rank	General of the Army
Commands	Yugoslav People's Army
Battles/wars	World War II

Nikola Ljubičić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Љубичић; 4 April 1916 – 13 April 2005) was the President of the Presidency of Serbia (1982–1984), a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1984–1989), and the Minister of Defence of Yugoslavia (1967–1982).^[1] He received numerous medals both from Yugoslavia and abroad, including the Order of the National Hero of Yugoslavia.

Biography

Ljubičić was born in the village of Karan, near Užice. He fought in World War II alongside Josip Broz Tito for the Yugoslav partisan movement and was proclaimed a Yugoslav national hero on the 27 November 1953 for his actions in the war.

Nikola Ljubičić joined the Partisans at the start of the war in Yugoslavia in 1941. He served with distinction, courage and heroism in the face of death. During the war he was put in charge of numerous units, moving through the ranks of the Partisan army. Forty-one years after his first steps upon the battlefields of Yugoslavia, he retired from the Yugoslav People's Army as a four-star General of the Army and Minister of Defence.

In 1982 Nikola Ljubičić took up the position of President of the Presidency of Serbia. He remained in this position until 1984. From 1984 to 1989 he was a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

He died in Belgrade on 13 April 2005, aged 89, and was buried with full military honors in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens of the New Cemetery in Belgrade.^[2][3]

There are a number of publications on his work such as the Total National Defence – Strategy for Peace (published in 1977 in numerous languages, including English, Arabic, Russian and Serbo-Croatian), and his own memoirs of World War II in the book "U Titovoj koloni" ("Marching with Tito"; published in 2006).

See also

• League of Communists Organisation in the Yugoslav People's Army

References