Office of the Historian

241. Airgram From the Embassy in Greece to the Department of State1

A–196
Athens, October 8, 1966.

SUBJECT

  • Ambassador’s Conversation with George and Andreas Papandreou, September 29, 1966

SUMMARY

At a luncheon at Kastri at which I was the only guest, George and Andreas Papandreou were at pains to get across three messages. The first was that the CU will not make a popular front with the Communist-line EDA and cannot do so because of policy disagreements over legalization of the Communist Party of Greece, return to Greece of refugees from the guerrilla war, Greek membership in NATO, and the national democratic political character of the Center Union. Secondly, they asserted that Greece under a Papandreou Government would remain a staunch ally of NATO and the West, though—to use Andreas’ words—Greece would insist that its voice be heard more than in the past. Andreas expressed his [Page 512] admiration for Turkish diplomacy as the way for a small country to project its views in the councils of powers. Third, the Papandreous proposed that the King install a service government which would (a) be set up with non-political personalities agreed upon by the Center Union and ERE, (b) gain a vote of confidence for a restricted period and for the restricted purpose of adopting an electoral law (presumably by the simple proportional system), and (c) be in power for long enough to adopt the electoral law before the beginning of the 45-day period provided by the constitution for the holding of elections. The Papandreous thought that this procedure, based on a precedent established in 1958 with the Georgakopoulos Government, would add “a few weeks” to the life of the service government. For the first time in my discussions with George Papandreou, he ruled out the possibility of an interim ERE government and emphasized that only a “service government” of non-political personalities would be acceptable.

[Here follows a detailed report of the discussion.]

Talbot
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL GREECE–US. Secret. Drafted by Talbot and approved by Bracken.↩