868.248/100

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)

The Greek Minister came in to see me last Saturday morning with further reference to the question of planes for Greece.

The Minister seemed pleased that both Secretary Knox and the White House had issued statements retracting Secretary Knox’s statement to the press that he had offered the Greeks thirty Grumman planes as a gift and that the Greeks had refused to accept it. The Minister added that in view of this admission by Secretary Knox it had not appeared desirable to report the episode to the Greek Government. The Minister hoped that if the story reached Athens the denial from both Secretary Knox and the White House would also reach there at the same time.

The Minister then referred to the press stories which appeared at the same time (one such story is attached78) to the effect that the Chinese were to receive one hundred P–40 combat planes. This development, the Minister declared, was incomprehensible to him, and he knew it would be utterly distressing to his Government if the facts became known. He said he was at a loss to understand how, after he had received formal assurances from competent officials of this Government as long ago as the beginning of last November that his Government would receive thirty modern fighting planes, he was now left altogether empty-handed and the Chinese, who came on the scene much later than he did, were to receive one hundred such planes. I [Page 690] assured the Minister that this development had occurred through no fault of the Department and that we had never understood that the promise to the Greeks was eliminated by the later promise to the Chinese. I also assured him that we would continue to make every effort to clear up this unfortunate situation in some manner that would be satisfactory to the Greeks.

  1. Not reprinted.