868.00/1–1446
Press Release Issued by the Department of State, January 14, 1946
In fulfillment of the responsibilities undertaken by this Government at Yalta, and in response to the invitation of the Greek Government for Allied observation of Greek elections, the President appointed Henry F. Grady as his representative, with the personal rank of Ambassador, to head the American group to observe those elections in collaboration with representatives of Great Britain and France.* In November Ambassador Grady visited London for preliminary consultations with the British and French representatives, who subsequently accompanied him to Athens for conferences with the Greek authorities. During this visit the Greek Government reiterated its desire for Allied observation and fixed the date of March 31, 1946, for the elections.
The President has now announced the appointment of the following as members of the United States Mission, with the personal rank of Minister†
Harry J. Malony, Major General, U.S.A.
Joseph Coy Green, Adviser to the Secretary of State.
Walter H. Mallory, Executive Director, Council on Foreign Relations.
James Grafton Rogers, lawyer and educator, former Assistant Secretary of State.
William W. Waymack, Editor of the Des Moines Register and Tribune.
Herman B. Wells, President of Indiana University.
The members of the Mission are now assembled in Washington for the Mission’s initial meetings, scheduled for January 14 and 15, 1946.
The Mission will be assisted in carrying out the observation by a civilian secretariat and advisory staff of approximately 80 persons and by a military staff numbering about 500 persons.
Appointments to the principal positions on the civilian staff include:
[Here follows a list of persons filling principal civilian positions, with their responsibilities.]
By direction of the President‡ the State and War Departments are collaborating closely in the organization of the Mission and are receiving the assistance of the Navy Department and other executive [Page 94] branches of the Government. General Malony, as principal representative of the War Department, will be in charge of the military personnel constituting the observation teams and handling the physical arrangements of the Mission, which will be largely self-sufficient as regards supply, transportation, and communications. The following are the assignments to the principal positions on the military staff:
[Here follows a list of persons filling principal military positions, with their responsibilities.]
It has been agreed among the participating Governments that the three national groups will be organized into an Allied Mission to Observe the Greek Elections17 and that the observation will be conducted as a combined Allied operation. The United States and British Governments will each furnish 100 and the French about 40 mobile observation teams, each consisting of a military officer and enlisted man and a Greek interpreter equipped with a jeep and trailer. During a period of three weeks prior to election day these teams will inspect and report on the status of the electoral registers and of the provisions made for the election. On election day the teams will be sent to a sufficient number of representative polling places througout Greece to give a valid sample of the effectiveness and integrity of the polling.
The pattern of observation will be worked out by a staff of Sampling and Statistical Experts.
The operation will be carried out through a Combined Central Office in Athens and Combined District Offices in Athens, Salonika, Patras, Tripolis and Herakleion, all headed by members of the three Allied Missions. Specific areas will not be assigned to the representatives of the three different nations, but American, British and French teams will be interspersed, one team to each selected polling place.
Mission personnel will observe the election process and will not interfere in any way. In the event of disturbances, observers will avoid becoming involved and will simply report the facts to the appropriate officers of the Mission. Military personnel will in no sense be in Greece for military purposes. All Allied staff members will wear distinctive personal identification in the form of shoulder patches for military personnel and brassards for civilians.
A group of members of the Interpreters Section of the United States Mission headed by Mr. Seeley is now en route to Greece to join with British colleagues in selecting the 200 or more Greek-English interpreters to be employed by the Mission. Another group from the civilian and military staffs, headed by Mr. Keeley,18 is now in London [Page 95] consulting with British and French representatives and elaborating the plans for the combined observation operation. Other groups, particularly the Technical Advisers and Central and District Office Staffs, will proceed to Greece in the near future to undertake the necessary advance studies and plans and to make advance arrangements for officers and quarters and for supplies.
Personnel of the three Allied contingents will be assembled in the Naples area of Italy in mid-February for a period of indoctrination and training before proceeding to Greece to begin the observation early in March.
- Department of State Press Release No. 787. October 20, 1945. [Footnote in the original. Richard T. Windle and Brig. Gen. Arnaud Laparra were Chiefs of the British and French groups, respectively.]↩
- White House Press Release, January 11. 1946. [Footnote in the original.]↩
- Executive Order No. 9657 of November 16, 1945, released to press by White House November 17, 1945; published in Federal Register, Vol. 10, No. 227, November 20, 1945. [Footnote in the original.]↩
- The Mission was commonly referred to as “Amfoge”, an abbreviation that came into use during early planning stages when it was unofficially designated “Allied Mission for Observing Greek Elections”.↩
- James Hugh Keeley, Foreign Service Officer, Special Assistant to the Chief of the Mission.↩