Archive Report
Archive Report
Dictatorship in Birthplace of Democracy
The military takeover in Greece a few weeks ago had ample precedent in that ancient land, the birthplace of democracy. It was the sixth coup d'état in Greece in the present century, though only the first of direct interest to the United States. Greece has been an object of American concern since 1947, when this country undertook the responsibility of saving Greek freedom from submergence by Communist insurrection. Aid to Greece, and also to Turkey, under what became known as the Truman Doctrine, instituted Washington's postwar global policy of containing communism.
The Greek army, instrument of the latest seizure of power and displacement of constitutional government, has been supplied with American arms, equipment and organizational know-how over the past 20 years. ...