No Compliments

The rightist Government of Premier Demetrios Maximos had been in power seven months. Careful research showed that in the English language there have been hardly any utterances complimentary to it. In the rich, rollicking Russian language there was ample invective (which was only natural). The Greek language did not count much in the Greek situation, but for what it was worth, three highly articulate Greeks stood up last week and spoke. The upshot: Maximos was out.

The dissenting Greeks were Sophocles Venizelos, George Papandreou and Panayotis Kanellopoulos, the only middle-of-the-road ministers in the Maximos Cabinet. They demanded larger liberal representation in the Government. Maximos refused. The three resigned. King Paul then asked Foreign Minister Constantin ("Dino") Tsaldaris, a Royalist and Maximos' chief political prop, to form a new Cabinet. Tsaldaris asked aging Liberal Leader Themistocles Sophoulis to join the new Cabinet, offered the Liberals an equal share of portfolios with the Royalists (even though the Liberals are a minority). Sophoulis refused, demanded full control of the Cabinet. Tsaldaris, calmly and coolly chewing cigars, kept on trying. Meanwhile, the old Government (in power till a new one could be formed) alerted police and army formations against renewed Communist guerrilla attacks.

Dino Tsaldaris was just back from consultations in Washington. He knew very well that the U.S., long dissatisfied with the corruption and inefficiency of the Maximos Cabinet, was glad to see it fall. The U.S. wanted not merely an anti-Communist Government in Greece, but one that would offer the people, through positive, democratic policies, their desperately wanted share of bread and freedom.

It was hard to say, in any language, that Dino was the man to fill that bill.

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