Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; Eastern Mediterranean, Volume VIII

Athens Embassy files, lot 60 F 16, “350 Cyprus 1954”

No. 404
The Ambassador in Greece (Cannon) to Prime Minister Papagos¹

secret

Athens, December 12, 1954.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister: I have just received a telegram from the Secretary of State² urgently requesting me to deliver the following message from him to you.

“You will recall that in my letter of November 16³ I stated that, while the United States would have to oppose in the General Assembly a substantive resolution on Cyprus, we would explore otherwise methods of reducing tensions created by this question.

“Reports from our Delegation in New York⁴ are that a resolution of the type suggested by your Government⁵ could not obtain the necessary majority. We would ourselves have to vote against such a resolution because we do not believe that United Nations interposition is useful at this time.

“It seems to me, therefore, that the best outcome from the standpoint of Western unity as well as Greek prestige would be to support a resolution by this Assembly not to discuss the Cyprus question. Of course, future Assemblies would be unbound.

“I am making this suggestion in the light of your remarks to me in Paris last October 23⁶ which I interpreted as meaning that you would prefer this result if the United States could not be strictly neutral.

“This step would lessen the chances of a debate which could only hurt the relations between our Greek and British friends. Furthermore, it appears that a decision by the General Assembly not to discuss the question would be less unfortunate from the standpoint of Greek public opinion than the failure of a Greek resolution to obtain the necessary majority.

“You may be sure that we will do all we can to conclude the discussion as amicably as possible. With assurance of my high regard and best wishes.”⁷

Sincerely yours,

Cavendish W. Cannon

1. This message was delivered on Dec. 12.
2. Telegram 1401 to Athens, Dec. 11. (747C.00/12–1154) A memorandum by Murphy to Dulles, Dec. 11, to which the draft telegram was attached, stated that this was done in accordance with Dulles’ telephone conversation with Lodge that morning. (747C.00/12–1154)
3. Document 396.
4. The reports from New York have not been further identified.
5. Reference presumably is to a Greek draft resolution handed to an official of the Department of State, Dec. 11, which has not been found in Department of State files. See Document 399.
6. Regarding those remarks, see Document 389.
7. No reply by Papagos to this message by Dulles has been found in Department of State files.