The role of the “Justice for Greece committee” for the American involvement in Greece after World War II

Abstract

Among the numerous political action groups that were organized during
the immediate post-War era, one was the “Justice for Greece Committee”.
This initiative of the organized American citizens of Greek descent sought to
focus the attention of the American public and government upon the various
problems in Greece associated with the ending of the Second World War. The
main platform of this Committee involved the economic reconstruction of wardevasted
Greece and the annexation of such Greek-speaking areas as the
Dodecanese Islands (then in possession of Italy), and Northern Epirus (the
southern part of Albania). Even though these disputed regions were currently
controlled by other European countries, the national aspirations of the united
Hellenic-American communities on both sides of the Atlantic could not be
readily dismissed by Congress, especially since the “Justice for Greece Committee”
employed the U.S. media in its tactics to publicize its programme
through both newspapers and radio. This campaign was designed to remind the
American public about the hardships which the Greek population had previously
suffered under Fascism and was now experiencing from Communist aggression
along its territorial frontiers, which faced imminent invasion by the
armed forces of the three neighboring states converted to Soviet Communism.
To prevent the Communist domination of Greece, the “Justice for Greece
Committee” frequently alluded to traditional American philhellenism which
had originally inspired the American government to provide the Greeks with 

military and economic assistance during the Greek Revolution of the 1820s.
Even though the United States did not conform with all the demands of the
“Justice for Greece Committee», the Truman government extended in a formal
plan of assistance known as “Truman Doctrine” enough support to halt
Communist aggression against Greece.