Office of the Historian

290. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, May 15, 1967, 11 a.m.

Mr. President:

You will have seen Marquis Childs’ story (Tab A)2 in this morning’s Washington Post on our alleged involvement in the Greek coup.

The story is about as inaccurate as it could be.

The facts are these:

—On March 8 and 13, 1967, the 303 Committee considered a proposal that [less than 1 line of source text not declassified] put $200–$300,000 [Page 612] into the Greek elections which were then scheduled to back candidates who would be anti-Andreas. Although, as indicated in the attached minutes (Tab B),3 we all felt considerable reservation about the proposal, we examined it carefully because the Ambassador recommended it. We finally decided that Foy Kohler should take the matter up with Sect. Rusk, and if the Secretary felt the proposal was vital, I would raise the matter with you. On March 14, Kohler reported as follows:

“He (Sect. Rusk) comes down negative. In the Greek case, he believes the possible political gain is outweighed by the security risks. He commented that if the dual-national Greek-Americans are concerned about the prospects and if $200–$300,000 will make the difference, they should have no trouble raising that sum themselves without involving the United States Government.”

In general, the view we took was that it was becoming less and less appropriate for us to try to influence elections in places like Italy4 and Greece [less than 1 line of source text not declassified]. Moreover, there was considerable skepticism—shared by me—that the outcome in Greece would be much affected by this kind of money.

In any case, the issue before us was not ‘what should we do or not do about a coup’: it was, ‘what should we do or not do about an election which at that time we all believed was more likely, rather than less likely, to take place’; although we knew there was considerable anxiety in certain Greek quarters about that election.

I have already asked State to undertake an investigation of who might have spoken about this matter to Marquis Childs. The problem in tracking down this particular inaccurate and distorted leak is that, because Ambassador Talbot came in with a cable,5 a considerable number of people in State probably knew that we were considering something to do with Greece. I have every reason for confidence in Foy Kohler, who is an exceedingly tight-lipped man.

I will let you know the results of our investigation.

Walt
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Intelligence File, Greek Coup, 1967. Secret; Sensitive. A note on the memorandum reads: “rec’d 5–15–67, 3:30 p.m.” The memorandum is marked with an “L,” indicating that the President saw it.↩
  2. The May 15 article was entitled “A Coup in Greece; A Bit of Blackmail.”↩
  3. See Documents 259 and 261.↩
  4. For documentation on Italy, see Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, volume XII.↩
  5. Document 255.↩