Greece - US Department of State

Greece 749
Perhaps famous Greek-American movie makers like Spyros Skouras
would be willing to help if asked. The Vice President added that our
own administration has considerable difficulties with the press, so he
in no way meant to imply criticism of the Greek Government’s handling
of their image problems, but rather hoped he might be suggesting
a useful idea to them. Palamas explained that the incident upon
which the film “Z” was based actually happened during the rule of
Prime Minister Karamanlis. The Vice President said this was not common
knowledge, although he certainly knew the true origin of the
events depicted. He felt it was insufficient to try to counter the effects
of a film like “Z” by simply making an announcement that it was a
distortion. The opposition drills home its points by repetition, and we
must be prepared to do the same thing. We must not sit by complacently
just because we are in the right. Continuous efforts must be made
to counter socially destructive activities by our vocal opponents—not
only in Greece, but in the United States as well. Palamas concurred in
this general appraisal and Vitsaxis said that the Greeks’ record in fighting
both fascism and communism just in the past generation alone had
had a tremendous beneficial impact on the history of the Western world
and should make excellent material for a film.
7. Palamas mentioned how pleased the Greek Government would
be if the Vice President were in a position to accept an invitation to
visit Greece in the spring. An invitation would be promptly forthcoming
whenever the Vice President considered it possible to accept such
an invitation. Without making a firm commitment, the Vice President
responded that a visit to Greece in the spring was certainly a most interesting
and delightful idea.
8. For Nicosia: President Makarios extended a similar informal invitation
to the Vice President during the White House dinner commemorating
the 25th anniversary of the UN and received the same generally
favorable response.
9. The meeting closed following a brief discussion of the existing
instability in Italy, the situation in France, and the importance of the
forthcoming elections in the United States.
Rogers