Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Eastern Europe; Finland; Greece; Turkey, Volume X, Part 2

239. Memorandum for the Files⁰

Washington, May 14, 1958.

SUBJECT

• OCB Consideration of Progress Report on Greece¹

In OCB consideration of the Greek Progress Report today the following matters came up:

1. Greek Elections. There was general surprise at the strong showing of the EDA. Several members noted that, with only a slightly larger popular vote than the Liberals, the EDA unfortunately have 78 seats in Parliament compared to only 36 for the Liberals. Governor Herter told Mr. Sprague that he had read a good discussion of the mechanics of the Greek electoral law and recommended it to Mr. Sprague. (Governor Herter referred to the Greek Embassy release dated May 1 which Mr. Williams had left with him.)²

Mr. Allen Dulles expressed the concern of his Agency over the display of EDA strength. He suggested that in two or three weeks it would be helpful for the Board to have a rundown on the reasons for this strength. He said his Agency was also working on this subject.³

Mr. Dulles also referred to the proposed new paragraphs in the Operations Plan⁴ recommending U.S. action to discourage legalization of the Greek Communist Party (KKE). He said that he was not suggesting that these paragraphs be changed now but thought they should be kept under continuous review. He said that instances may arise where it might be better to see communist parties such as the KKE kept legal in order that a better check might be kept on them. He said that this had always been our position in this country with respect to our own domestic politics. Governor Herter said that he concurred very much with Mr. Dulles’ point of view and agreed that this should be kept under review.

2. Greek-Yugoslav Relations. Mr. Karl G. Harr, Jr., representing General Cutler, asked Mr. Williams what effect recent developments in Soviet-Yugoslav relations⁵ might have on Greece’s attitude toward Yugoslavia and on Turkey. Mr. Williams said that he thought it could only encourage Greece to strengthen its relations with Yugoslavia. Mr. Williams said that we had this very much in mind in our suggested change to the progress report on this matter. Our suggested language stated that any U.S. encouragement of closer Greek-Yugoslav relations should bear in mind strained Greek-Turk relations growing out of the Cyprus dispute.

3. F–100s.⁶ Mr. Harr asked Mr. Sprague whether something might not be done to get a squadron or so of F–100s for Greece. He was aware of the military and maintenance problems involved in doing so. Mr. Sprague said that Defense had to delete about $130 million in the FY ’58 MAP program for such aircraft, largely because the U.S. Air Force had cut down on its own procurement. Because of the latter there simply were not enough F–100s to give away. However, there were now indications that France, for whom 5 squadrons had originally been allocated, might now not be able to take more than 3 or 4 squadrons. Mr. Sprague said that SACEUR and the JCS have indicated that they would be willing to see at least one of these squadrons assigned to Greece. (Mr. Laingen was told by Col. Haynes of ISA subsequent to the meeting that he was well aware of this possibility. He also said it was his personal belief that by the end of this fiscal year there would be more F–100 squadrons available “than they know what to do with.”)

4. Cyprus. There was virtually no discussion of Cyprus after a reference by Governor Herter to the problem, his observation that the NSC had approved a separate paper on Cyprus⁷ and a general review of the paper by Mr. Williams. Governor Herter observed in passing that one of the effects of the Cyprus issue locally was that it kept Ambassador Melas “up in the chandeliers” during much of the time when he came in to call on Department officers.

Ambassador Allen was not present.

5. Middle East Resolution.⁸ Governor Herter asked whether it had been finally determined that Greece was considered within the confines of the area covered by this resolution. Mr. Williams replied that it has always been his understanding this had been purposely kept vague.

6. USIA Libraries Overseas. Governor Herter told the USIA representative that he thought it would be helpful to have a rundown on the number of such libraries burned or otherwise damaged overseas and what the probable reasons for this were.⁹ He said he thought it would be an indication of the effectiveness of these libraries in the USIA program. Mr. Williams observed that one of the reasons that such libraries are the brunt of attacks is that they are frequently located in an easily accessible location. He described his own experience in Salonika as an example.¹⁰

0. Source: Department of State, Greek Desk Files: Lot 61 D 1, NSC–OCB. Secret. Drafted by Laingen. Sent to the Embassy in Athens as an enclosure to a letter from Williams to Penfield, May 15.
1. The OCB report is printed as Document 240. The approved minutes of the May 14 OCB meeting are in Department of State, OCB Files: Lot 62 D 430, Minutes VI.
2. Not found.
3. A Department of State–study of the Greek elections, prepared for the OCB, dated August 29, is in Department of State, OCB Files: Lot 62 D 430, Greece.
4. Document 241.
5. At the 7th Congress of the League of Yugoslav Communists April 22–26, the Soviet Delegation walked out during a denunciation by Rankovic of the Soviet Union’s interference in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia. See Documents 123 ff.
6. Averoff requested these aircraft on February 3; see Document 233.
7. Apparently a reference to the supplement to NSC 5718, approved by the President August 5, 1957. For text, see Foreign Relations, 1955–1957, vol. XXIV, pp. 493–494.
8. In a January 5, 1957, address to a joint session of Congress, President Eisenhower requested authority for a military and economic assistance program for the Middle East. Eisenhower also requested authority to employ U.S. armed forces “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid, against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by International Communism.” The resolution (H.J Res. 117 and S.J. Res. 19) was approved by Congress and signed by the President on March 9. For texts of the initial resolution and its amended version, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1957, pp. 791–792 and 829–831. The resolution was popularly known as the American Doctrine or the Eisenhower Doctrine.
9. The USIA facility in Athens was burned by rioters on the night of December 12–13, 1957, during a mass protest regarding the Cyprus situation.
10. Reference is to anti-American and anti-British rioting in Salonika in December 1954 by Greeks protesting the two governments’ respective policies over Cyprus. The U.S. Consulate was among the buildings attacked. Williams was Consul General in Salonika at the time.