Allied Factor

King Paul cut a knot last week and called on an old foe of his family to form Greece's 19th government since the war. The new Premier, General Nicholas Plastiras, 67, had forced the King's father Constantine into exile in 1922, as an aftermath of the bungled war against the Turks. Plastiras last week assembled a cabinet that represented a coalition of his own National Progressive Union-of-the-Center and two other center parties (Liberals and Social Democrats).

It also represented the decisive intervention of U.S. diplomacy. Perhaps because of personal distaste for Plastiras, the King had first blocked the general by naming Liberal Boss Sophocles Venizelos, son of the late great Eleutherios Venizelos, as Premier. This split the Liberals away from the coalition government planned by Venizelos and Plastiras, and favored by the U.S. Then followed maneuvers to line up right-wing royalist support behind Venizelos. U.S. Ambassador Henry F. Grady quickly threatened to withhold ECAid, implying that only a center coalition could govern Greece efficiently. After 23 frustrating days in office, Venizelos resigned, blaming his fall on "the Allied factor." This is a phrase frequently heard in Greece; it is the Greeks' word for Uncle Sam. Grady's intervention in Greek politics had been decisive, but so heavy-footed that the prestige of "the Allied factor" was now closely bound up with the success of Plastiras' government.

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