1. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1
SUBJECT
- Letter to Prime Minister Papadopoulos
As US assistance recipients improve their economic condition, it has been our practice to shift them gradually from grant military assistance to foreign military sales credits. You may recall that Iran took this step shortly after your visit in May last year. Several other countries were considered to make this transition in FY 1974. Greece was one of them. When the Greek government learned of this, they decided to do the same thing that Iran did last spring—take themselves off the grant list. They judged that the amount of money had become quite small and that their being on the recipient list subjected them to continued Congressional criticism. They preferred to initiate the termination of grant military assistance. Greece will receive $65 million in military sales credits in FY 1974.
Prime Minister Papadopoulos wrote you a letter [Tab B]2 explaining Greece’s step. There was some misunderstanding at the Greek end of what was involved, so there has had to be continuing technical discussion over the practical elements of terminating grant assistance so that the Greeks would not do themselves out of some aid that was in the pipeline. However, those discussions need not affect your reply.
At Tab A is a suggested reply to the Prime Minister treating this transition in a low key way and expressing appreciation for Greece’s contribution to NATO.
[Page 2]Recommendation: That you sign the letter to Prime Minister Papadopoulos at Tab A. [Text cleared with Mr. Gergen.]3
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 754, Presidential Correspondence File, Greece (Papadopoulos). Secret. Sent for action.↩
- Dated January 11; attached but not printed. All brackets are in the original.↩
- Nixon signed the letter on April 26; attached but not printed.↩