Office of the Historian

235. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Greece1

Washington, March 29, 1957—2:47 p.m.

3526. Presidential handling. Please deliver following message from the President to King Paul. Confirm date and time of delivery.

“March 29, 1957.

Dear King Paul:

I would like to tell you that I very much appreciated your letter of March 15, 1957.2 Your views on the Cyprus problem, especially with respect to Archbishop Makarios, were of great value to me and [Page 468] my associates at Bermuda and during the Conference I took the opportunity of urging that the Archbishop be released.

It is encouraging to learn that the Archbishop has recently been offered the opportunity of leaving the Seychelles. His release presents a great opportunity and, as you stated in your letter, marks ‘a definite step toward a possible solution of this thorny problem’. I sincerely hope that with your advice and encouragement the Greek Government will do everything possible to use this opportunity for the purpose of creating an atmosphere which will lead to constructive negotiations between the leaders of the Cypriot communities and the British authorities.

Further, I would urge you to consider the possibility that NATO could at the same time play a useful role in considering the international aspects of this question. If the domestic and international aspects of the problem could be more clearly separated, and if they are approached with courage and resourcefulness, I believe that this painful problem can gradually but certainly be solved in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Thank you again for your letter. Please accept the best wishes of myself and Mrs. Eisenhower and convey our greetings to Queen Frederika.3

Sincerely,

Dwight D. Eisenhower”

Dulles
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 747C.00/3–2957. Secret; Priority.↩
  2. See footnote 2, Document 228.↩

  3. In telegram 3267, April 1, Allen reported:

    “King Paul was highly pleased to receive President’s message, which I delivered to him at Tatoi last night. We asked if he could show it to Prime Minister Karamanlis. I said President would undoubtedly expect him to show it to Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Averoff but that existence of this exchange of letters should be held secret in absence of agreement to contrary. In order to draw King out I asked to what extent he felt he could give advice and encouragement to GOG. He said President’s letter would enable him to advise Karamanlis to be more willing for NATO to consider international aspects of Cyprus problem. He said he would call Karamanlis to palace today to discuss President’s letter.

    “King noted with obvious relish President’s statement that during Bermuda Conference had urged release of Makarios.” (Department of State, Central Files, 747C.00/4–157)

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