740.00119 EW/10–1945
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Kohler)
| Participants: | Greek Ambassador |
| Under Secretary | |
| Mr. Kohler (NE) |
The Greek Ambassador called at his request. During his visit he made an impassioned speech regarding the devastation wrought by the enemy in Greece and the problem of Greek reconstruction. He said that Greece was unique in having been subjected to the merciless occupation of not one, but three, enemies—Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. The economy of the country had been completely destroyed. While the Greek Government understood our attitude toward the payment of reparations by Italy, the problem still remained with Italian reparations ruled out and reparations from Germany and Bulgaria problematical. The question still had to be answered as to who would pay for the reconstruction of Greece. UNRRA did not provide the answer. Greece appreciated the effective relief they were getting from UNRRA, but reconstruction was by definition outside the scope of that organization.
The Ambassador was particularly perturbed by the remarks made to him in an interview earlier this morning with Mr. Wayne C. Taylor of the Export-Import Bank. He felt that Greece was deprived of hope of real assistance from the United States by Mr. Taylor’s insistence that a request for further credits beyond the 25 million dollars now in course of approval must be considered as an entirely new proposition.
Mr. Acheson thought the Ambassador was taking Mr. Taylor’s remarks too seriously and that they should not be interpreted as cutting off any “hope” of further aid. He said that the policy of the American Government toward assisting in the reconstruction of liberated areas is well known and felt certain that Mr. Taylor had simply been trying to make it quite clear to the Ambassador that no advance (Commitment could be given. Future requests for loans to the [Page 246] Greek Government would be considered in the light of the conditions prevailing at the time, including the situation in Greece and the effectiveness with which the Greek Government was proceeding to get its own house in order.