Office of the Historian

868.00/7–2147

Memorandum by the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of European Affairs (Reber) to the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson)

[Washington,] July 28, 1947.

Subject: British proposal for US–UK action regarding possible Macedonian Republic.

With reference to the British Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of July 21, 1947, the following are EUR’s views.

The crux of the Macedonian problem is its relation to the maintenance of the territorial integrity of Greece. That is our chief aim and the reason for our principal objection to a revived Macedonian state. Such a state, if created by a rearrangement of Yugolsav and Bulgarian internal and common boundaries, would not in itself be susceptible to valid objection by this Government, nor to successful opposition, even if part of a plan for eventual South-Slav Federation. The Communist countries of the Balkans will do as they please in this matter and it is doubtful if any action through the UN or otherwise is likely to deter them if they and Russia are so disposed. Though we would not favor, we could not prevent it.

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The chief objective, therefore, is to insure the preservation of the present frontiers of Greece against irredentist claims and Soviet pressure to the Aegean. As this integrity is threatened, whether by guerrilla infiltration, creation of a so-called Free Greek Government, or establishment of a Macedonian Republic, this Government should take all possible, appropriate steps to deal with each emergency as it arises. Action with regard to Macedonia would appear only practicable after a Macedonian Republic was already in existence and the shape of things to come was clearly discernible. The British proposal for earlier action, with a view to discouraging creation of the new republic and preventing it from becoming an issue among the Great Powers would seem to be premature and self-defeating, in that it would aggravate the importance of the problem without diminishing its dangers, and make the subsequent establishment of a Macedonian Republic, if realized, look like a diplomatic defeat for the Western Democracies.