American reaction to events within Greece: 1944-1947

Following World War II the interests of great nations converged in the Mediterranean. Seemingly a small and insignificant country, Greece became the center of British and American policies which created conditions that have almost obscured actual events. Contemporary Americans knew and responded to the Greek situation as evidenced in Presidential correspondence for the period. These messages reflect both the British and American postwar role, and successfully place a small nation\u27s people in deserved perspective. In Greece, a portion of the population desired active participation in government. But their nationalist leaders expressed ideas and employed rhetoric associated with accepted versions of Soviet communism, and at the same time they pleaded for Laocratia, or true democracy. Intentions became increasingly misunderstood, and the EAM movement, in the minds of British and American policy makers, was tied to the Soviet Union\u27s desire to dominate Greece. Responding to believed Soviet intentions and their own national interests, Britain and the United States came to support a reactionary and royalist Greek government, which in its effort to maintain the status quo repressed civil liberties and thwarted democratic change