286. Letter From the Representative to the United Nations (Lodge) to Secretary of State Dulles 0
Dear Foster: Queen Frederika of Greece made an urgent plea to me for the United States to adopt a hands off attitude on the Cyprus question—if it should come into the United Nations.1 She said “hands off” meant not only a public attitude but also not working in the background because the background work always got reported in Greece.
She said that the only strong politician in Greece today was Karamanlis and that if the United States got identified with being on the “wrong side” of the Cyprus question, his government would fall and then there would be only the King and the Queen to stand up for the alliance with the west.
This makes me think once again of the idea which we discussed driving into New York the other day, that is, that we adopt the same attitude on Cyprus and Algeria as we adopted on the Western New Guinea question—the attitude of total abstention. If we should adopt this attitude in the case of Cyprus, it would make it easier for us to adopt it in the case of Algeria and vice versa. The fact that the French themselves are abstaining on the Algerian question seems to me to afford some justification for our doing the same. It really should please them. It seems to me that under no circumstances can we become active lobbyists for any side in this question.
Looking back over the last six years, I think we have really come out as well as could be expected on the Western New Guinea question, and I do not think this is the case as regards Cyprus and Algeria.
It is really quite a step and I am still not sure, but my thinking is trending more and more that way.
I suggest that this letter be very closely held in view of the fact that it reports a conversation with Queen Frederika.
Faithfully yours,