740.00119 Council/4–2746
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. H. Freeman Matthews92
| Participants: | Mr. Bevin, accompanied by Mr. Robert Dixon |
| The Secretary | |
| Mr. Matthews |
[Here follow introductory paragraph and paragraphs numbered 1 on food and 2 on Palestine. For introductory paragraph and paragraph on Palestine, see page 587.]
3. Greece. Mr Bevin said that he had urged upon the King and upon the Greek Government that holding of a plebiscite to determine the form of Greek Government should be postponed until 1948 and that he understood we had similarly urged postponement until next year. He was not so sure now, however, that this was a wise course. The plebiscite, if it is to be held earlier, must take place either this coming September or not until March, largely because of weather conditions. He feels that he must get British troops out of Greece [Page 149] this autumn, one reason being that as long as British troops are there he is sure that Russian troops will not be withdrawn from Bulgaria. He is told that if the plebiscite is held after the withdrawal of British troops it will be probably largely fraudulent, along the lines of recent Yugoslav and Bulgarian elections. In this case with a victory for the Monarchists, the Left would probably start a Civil War which might have most serious consequences. He is therefore coming to the view that it might be better to hold the plebiscite this September. Prior to that time he believes that the electoral registers should be brought up to date. He had been told that Mr. Grady and his British colleague had done an excellent job in assuring the fairness of the recent Greek elections and that the degree of abstention had been far less than anticipated. He thought that these American and British teams of observers could be utilized to bring the electoral registers up to date prior to the plebiscite. The Secretary indicated that he thought that Mr. Bevin’s reasons had a certain logic and that he would give the matter consideration. Mr. Bevin said that when he had finally made up his mind, he would send the Secretary a memorandum on the subject.93
[Here follows an account of the Byrnes-Bevin conversations on the Italian colonies and Egypt (paragraph 4) and on bases in the Pacific (paragraph 5). For the section on the Italian Colonies and Egypt, see footnote 6, page 72.]
- Political Adviser to the United States delegation at the Council of Foreign Ministers.↩
- The British delegation at Paris telegraphed an account of the Byrnes-Bevin conversation on Greece, said to have taken place on April 26, to the British Foreign Office the same day. A paraphrase of the telegram was sent to the Department by the British Embassy on May 3. The British and American accounts of the conversation were broadly parallel. The British version, however, cited Mr. Byrnes as stating that the British were in a better position than the United States to assess the situation and that if the British thought that September 1046 was the right date, the United States was prepared to accept it. The British version also indicated Mr. Bevin’s view that a bare majority for the King would be unfortunate, and noted his query as to whether a majority of “say 60%” should not be required for the King’s return. (868.00/5–346)↩