Correspondence Between Averell Harriman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson

157 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA "NATIONAL AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION ADMINISTRATION RECORDS OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN EUROPE quant 55-a ok NEA Paris, February 28, 1949 PERSONAL AND Dear Dean: I am taking advantage of the willingness you expressed when I saw you last month to receive from me on an entirely personal basis certain expressions of my views. I have seen Ambassador Grady's telegram 319 of February 21 regarding the situation in Greece and I thought you would be interested in my reaction to it. The reports which I get from ECA people in Greece who come to Paris and also from people of this office who have been recently in Greece are to the general effect that while there has certainly been some improvement in Greek governmental efficiency due to recent cabinet changes, we continue to encounter much the same difficulties as before in achieving concerted policies. Our people in Greece have to spend a great deal of their time working with individual ministries in order to get even an essential minimum of action and coordination. Both Sophoulis, the Premier, and Diomedes, the Vice Premier, are recognizedly too old and weary to pull their colleagues together effectively. I am personally convinced that we must continue to exercise strong discreet pressure in this field. If we are to discharge the responsibilities which we have assumed both vis-a-vis the Greek people and our own, we must have, as long as the present emergency lasts, continued striving toward better leadership, greater efficiency and real coordination between some twenty ministries. My conclusion is that while there has been some improvement there are as yet no grounds whatever for complacency. I am The Honorable Dean Acheson, Secretary of State, Washington. OFFICE OF WEAR EASTERN AND AFRICAN AFFAIRS DIRECTOR DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (3) MAR 7 -- 1949 7.15.25 Dept. of State letter, PERSONAL AND By NLT- He : NARS Date 4-20-76 MR. SATTERTHWAITE DEPARTMENT OF STATE,