Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Near East and Africa, Volume V

868.00/10–2847

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Chief of the Division of Greek, Turkish and Iranian Affairs (Jernegan)

confidential

[Washington,] October 28, 1947.

Participants:	Mr. Constantine Tsaldaris, Foreign Minister of Greece.
	Ambassador Dendramis.
	Mr. Gouras, Counselor of the Greek Embassy.
	Mr. Henderson, NEA.
	Mr. McGhee, U/GT.
	Mr. Jernegan, GTI.

Mr. Tsaldaris referred to the large number of Greeks who had been driven from their villages and sought refuge in the towns and cities as a result of guerrilla activity.¹ The care of these refugees amounts to a heavy financial burden which was beyond the capacity of the Greek Government and which could not be covered by the existing allocations of American funds for Aid to Greece. He said that Greece needed an additional 30 million dollars to meet this problem.

Mr. McGhee said that the funds already available under the Greek Aid Program would take care of all the important relief supplies, such as grain and milk, needed for the refugees. The relief program had been calculated to take care of all deficits in Greek internal supplies of the type of necessities involved. The new costs introduced by the refugee problem were primarily costs for housing, blankets, and the like which were not part of the relief program and were properly the responsibility of the Greek Government. Essentially, they were internal costs which should be met from the Greek budget. The post-UNRRA relief appropriation made by Congress had not been intended to meet internal costs of the recipient countries, and it would not be possible to divert funds from that appropriation to relieve the Greek budgetary deficit.

Mr. Tsaldaris asked whether it would not be possible to obtain from Congress additional funds for this specific purpose. Both Mr. McGhee and Mr. Henderson expressed the view that it would be unwise to make such a request of Congress so soon after the approval of the Greek Aid Bill. Mr. Henderson emphasized that a request made to Congress now might have very adverse effects on the possibility of continued aid to Greece after June 30, 1948 when the present appropriation expires.

1. Governor Griswold advised in telegram Amag 397, October 27, from Athens, of the evacuation of 300,000 persons from their homes, principally in northern and central Greece, to prevent their forcible recruitment by the guerrillas and the theft of supplies. Since the Greek Government was able to provide the drachma equivalent of $15,000,000 out of the $30,000,000 necessary to care for the refugees, he recommended the deficiency be supplied from United States Foreign Relief Program funds (868.00/10–2747).