In the wee hours of 21 April 1967 a coup, organized by a group of far-right colonels seized power resulting in the imposition of a seven-year-long dictatorship in Greece.
Constantine II the last king of Greece swore in the colonels who led the coup thereby making the junta the legal government of Greece.
The Greek Junta arrested politicians, the Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army and civilians from a list of 10,000 that had been drawn up previously by the military. Thousands were exiled to Gyaros.
A few weeks before the 1968 United States presidential election, Nixon’s running mate Spiro Agnew made a surprise endorsement of the Greek junta changing his position from strict U.S. neutrality.
According to Elias Demetracopoulos Greek journalist and dissident living in Washington, D.C. …
… the junta was funneling money into the Nixon-Agnew campaign.
… Tom Pappas, a prominent Greek American businessman from Boston who had suggested Agnew as Nixon’s running mate, was responsible for delivering the money.
In retrospect the monarchy, the military and three generations of Papandreou men resulted in a tragedy for Greece as well as a major political scandal for America.
Notes by date
- Constantine II New York Times 2023 Obit
- Phillips Talbot United States ambassador to Greece, 1965–69 rebuts President Clinton in 1999 New York Times Opinion column
- Ex-Greek Leader Papandreou Dies The Washington Post 1996 Obit
- What role did Boston-raised Thomas A. Pappas play? 1975 UPI New York Times article Greek‐American Investor To Raise Funds for Ford