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

292. Memorandum of Conversation⁰

Athens, May 4, 1960.

SUBJECT

• Secretary’s Meeting with Greek Prime Minister

1. In the course of the Secretary’s visit to Athens,¹ a dinner–meeting was held at the residence of the Prime Minister the evening of May 4. Others present were:

On the Greek side:	On the American side:
The Deputy Prime Minister H.E.	Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs
Panayotis Canellopoulos	Under Secretary Livingston T.
The Foreign Minister H.E.	Merchant
Evanghelos Averoff-Tossizza	Assistant Secretary G. Lewis Jones

2. The talk during dinner and the early part of the evening was desultory, with little of special interest except as reported by cable (Embtel 3059).²

3. Later in the evening the Prime Minister referred to the confidential aide-mémoire which he had submitted,³ and the main discussion of the evening centered on the points in this document.

4. The essential point made by the Prime Minister was that Greece required not only continuing but increased economic aid from the United States in particular, and Greece’s NATO allies in general; that Greece was confronted by an economic and political crisis arising from its inability to expand agricultural exports, especially tobacco, and its shortage of investment capital; that failure to receive such support would force Greece into expanding her trade relations with the Soviet bloc; and finally, that Greece had not received the help and understanding from her allies that she expected or was entitled to.

5. The Secretary replied in friendly tones but with unmistakable vigor and clarity that the whole trend of U.S. Legislative and Executive policy was in the direction of reducing and eventually abolishing defense support; that the sums quoted each year were almost certain to be reduced, and there was small prospect that the level of defense support aid to Greece this year would be maintained, let alone increased. The Secretary assured the Prince Minister that the United States would continue to be helpful and sympathetic in regard to Greece’s problems, and that loans, American and other, represented the form of assistance on which the Greek government will need increasingly to depend. The Secretary said he was aware of the pressure which the Soviet government was putting on Greece, and the Prime Minister could, of course, continue to depend on American collaboration and support in respect of its security and its NATO responsibilities.

6. By pre-arrangement, there was no discussion at that meeting of Greece’s defaulted debt and the current status of negotiations. (This was discussed between the Secretary and Foreign Minister Averoff earlier in the day.)⁴

[1 paragraph (4–1/2 lines of source text) not declassified]

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.12–ME/5–1760. Secret; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Briggs and Berger. Sent to the Department of State as an enclosure to despatch 1083 from Athens, May 7.
1. Herter visited Athens May 4–5 after the NATO Ministerial Meeting in Istanbul (May 2–4).
2. Telegram 3059, May 5, reported on discussions of the possible replacement of the Soviet Ambassador in Greece by Molotov. (Department of State, Central Files, 601.6181/5–560)
3. Dated May 4, it outlined Greek suspicions of Soviet efforts at relaxation of tensions and insisted that Soviet pressure on Greece be terminated as part of a general process of détente. The document outlined Greece’s economic aid requirements. A revised version of the aide-mémoire was attached to the source text, but is not printed.
4. No record of this discussion has been found.