868.00/907: Telegram
The Minister in Greece (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 11—11:40 a.m.]
154. The situation today is somewhat anomalous. The national assembly met last evening and [Panayiotis] Tsaldaris9 and all the followers he could muster walked out of the Chamber leaving Kondylis and Metaxas and an unknown number of deputies behind. The latter then proceeded to “acclaim” (1) the [“]abolishment of the republican regime” (2) the carrying out of the plebiscite on November 3 as planned (presumably a strategic move to consolidate their position with the public), (3) the delegation of the royal power until that date to Kondylis, now Chief of Government, with the support of the officers commanding the navy, the air force and the Athens troops, and (4) the restoration of the monarchical constitution of 1911.
There is a wide divergence in the reports even of eye witnesses as to the number of deputies attending the session and as to how many left with Tsaldaris and how many remained behind.
A purely royalist Cabinet had been formed, with John Theotokis as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mavromichalis as Minister of Communications.
Though not receiving specific mention, the Presidency appears to have been “abolished” along with the democratic regime. Martial law has been declared, foreign press censorship established, and the opposition press muzzled. Athens remains calm and appears to have witnessed the foregoing developments with either indifference or disgust.
- Greek Premier who had been forced out of the Cabinet on October 10, 1935.↩