Greece - US Department of State

722 Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume XXIX
“President: One thing is relevant: The USIA people say that the
only major U.S. paper they see in Europe is the Herald-Tribune. That’s
basically the New York Times and Post. The TV in Europe is statecontrolled
and leftist-oriented. What is involved is a barrage of propaganda
unfavorable to the U.S.—and also a negative picture of the
Greeks. The idea is that the U.S. shouldn’t give arms and then the
Greeks would change. They’d change alright, but the wrong way. In
1947 I visited Greece as a young Congressman. I talked to guerrillas—
who were probably properly coached—and I came back convinced that
the Greek-Turkish Aid program should go forward. I got a barrage of
cards and letters saying, ‘Don’t give arms, give food to Greece.’ The
left was against giving arms. The major difference is that in the 1950’s
it was unfashionable to support Communists but it is no longer so.
People now say they don’t care about the security of Europe; they want
the Greeks to be pure. I don’t know what would happen at the lower
levels in Europe. I know what I’d do—we need the Greeks because of
10 divisions, and the Mid-east. We don’t like the government but we’d
like its successor less. We can’t do this, of course. Papandreou is a coldeyed
tough guy of the left. We have to do it right. Constantine should
come back for his interest and Greece’s interest and tell them we believe
they should move and say they will move.
“VP: Has the media and opinion effect really been examined? The
media here are not representative. Couldn’t this be true in other countries,
too?
“President: The American leader class—the intellectuals, the media,
etc.—they have a viewpoint that makes them no longer fit for leadership.
The strength of America is in the ‘hard-hats’—the stevedores,
the working people, some in the colleges. But American opinion in a
hard decision could be with you. It’s not so in Europe. Luns, who’s a
tough man, said that on TV.
“Rogers: One thing of the difference between the young and the
old: The young don’t remember the war and they have no sense of
history.
“President: Tasca, you go back and try to get it done. If we follow
the Danes, the Norwegians and other Socialists, the French and Italians,
we do nothing. They are weak; we’ve got to lead. We’ve got to
support the Greeks. It must be made palatable. The others all know if
we weren’t there, they’d be terrified. We look all the more important
because the Europeans can’t sell security to their own people.
“Rogers: All they really ask us to do is do it wisely—not the Danes
and Norwegians—but they help us by taking our problems into
consideration.
“Tasca: We care about it but we want to talk and bring the Greeks
along. The Greeks are very friendly.”