Office of the Historian

240. Memorandum of Conversation1

Rome, February 13, 1969.

SUBJECT

  • Visit by Ambassador Mosbacher with King Constantine in Rome at his residence

PARTICIPANTS

  • King Constantine of Greece
  • Ambassador Emil Mosbacher, Jr., Chief of Protocol

At the dinner Ambassador Ackley held for the advance party, I was given a message that King Constantine had suggested I might like to come over and have a drink with him afterward. I called and he was most cordial in his invitation that I do just that.

After dinner, I went to his home and spent a most pleasant hour and a quarter to an hour and a half in conversation with him. The Queen was present at the beginning and again for a few moments at the end.

Our talk covered subjects ranging from the fact that he is planning to get a Soling (an olympic-class sailboat), to the Americas Cup and the Greek position in regard to that. We did spend considerable time discussing the fact that he had had a number of emissaries from Athens over a period of time, including one or two of high rank. According to the conversation, he still has an interest in returning and they would seem to have considerable interest in having him do so. He indicated that it was a matter of negotiation as to the terms on which this could be brought about, the most important of which would be holding national elections. He expressed great fear that the strong right wing police methods of the ruling junta might bring about a communist [Page 615] reaction and precipitate Greece once more into civil war. He feels he still has the affection of most of the people, especially the young ones and recounted several anecdotes that would seem to substantiate this.

He did not make any request to see the President during his visit to Rome.2 He did, however, say that down the line he would like to have further discussions with our people about the Greek situation. I asked him to inform me further of his desires for discussion and that I would try to see that any such request be passed along to the proper officials.

Emil Mosbacher, Jr.
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 593, Country Files—Middle East, Greece, Vol. I Jan 69–Oct 70. Confidential. Drafted by Mosbacher. The date was added to the memorandum in an unknown hand. A copy was sent to Saunders.↩
  2. President Nixon visited Rome February 27–28.↩