Greece, Relations with

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GREECE, RELATIONS WITH

GREECE, RELATIONS WITH. The primary factors in Greek-American relations are American philhellenism, Greek emigration to the United States, and U.S. foreign aid to Greece.

During the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832), the United States supported Greece, with heartfelt speeches on its behalf delivered in the American Senate. Over time, though, Greece came to view American support with ambivalence, as the line between support and intervention blurred. In the nineteenth century, Greece's foreign policy was based on the "Great Idea," a never-realized expansionist program that called for the Greek conquest of Asia Minor. The United States, along with the Great Powers, opposed it, lest its success lead to a disastrous shift in the region's power balance.

In 1924 the United States passed the Johnson-Reed Act, limiting the immigration of southern Europeans. Greece, sunk into economic depression by the worldwide postwar slump and a dramatically burgeoning population (between 1907 and 1928 the Greek population went from about 2.6 million to 6.2 million), could no longer find relief in emigration, as it had in past times of economic difficulty. Historically, Greece has relied heavily on the income sent home by its Greek-American émigré population. Such receipts plunged in the interwar period.

During World War II and the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), U.S.-Greek relations intensified as Greece became a critical pawn in the emerging Cold War. Allied with the United States during World War II, Greece's resistance to German occupation turned to civil strife when the two main groups of the resistance—one communist and the other royalist—turned against each other.

The United States proclaimed the Truman Doctrine in 1947, funneling huge amounts of financial and military aid into Greece. Greece was consequently allied with the United States during the Korean conflict and throughout the Cold War. Between 1946 and 1996, the United States provided Greece with more than $11.1 billion in economic and security assistance. Direct aid programs ceased by 1962; military assistance continued. In 1995, for example, Greece was the fourth-largest recipient of U.S. security assistance, receiving loans totaling $255.15 million.

In 1953 Greece and the United States signed a defense cooperation agreement and established American military installations on Greek territory. The Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement provides for U.S. military assistance to Greece and the operation of a major U.S. military facility in Crete.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, links between the two countries became more economic and cultural than diplomatic. The United States is the single largest foreign investor in Greece, with investments of at least $900 million in 1994; more than one million Americans are of Greek origin. Diplomatic and economic ties underwent some restructuring with Greece's integration into the European Community at the end of the twentieth century.