Dear Governor Griswold:
On this third anniversary of the adoption by Congress of the Greek-Turkish aid program, it is appropriate that public recognition be given to the men and women who, in the critical Greek situation, have been instrumental in carrying the policy thereby inaugurated through to its present success.
Your name stands out among those of the many devoted public servants who have labored tirelessly to win the victory for freedom in Greece. Initiation of the Greek aid program involved the planning, organization and setting in motion under emergency conditions of a large-scale undertaking for which there was little precedent in the history of United States operations overseas. Your enterprise and executive talent enabled you to carry out this task promptly and efficiently, your energy and vision gave the program its original impetus and direction, it was under your firm guidance that the program was carried successfully through the first fourteen months of its application. You may take justifiable pride in the part you have played in this positive and significant achievement of American foreign policy.
Very sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[Honorable Dwight P. Griswold, 2101 Third Avenue, Scottsbluff, Nebraska.]
Dear Ambassador MacVeagh:
On this third anniversary of the adoption by Congress of the Greek-Turkish aid program, I desire to express once again the Government's appreciation of your important role in the conception of that program and in its inauguration with respect to Greece.
At a very early date you recognized and brought to the Government's attention the significant part which Greece was likely to play in postwar developments. After the liberation of Greece from Axis domination, your intimate knowledge of that country, derived from long years of devoted service there, enabled you to detect and point out with great clarity the symptoms of a deteriorating situation which, if not arrested, would have had calamitous consequences not only for Greece but also for general security in broader areas.
As a friend of Greece and as a loyal and distinguished American public servant, I know that you must be deeply gratified, as I am, by the positive results of our Greek aid program.
Very sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[Honorable Lincoln MacVeagh, American Ambassador, Lisbon, Portugal.]
Dear Ambassador Grady:
The third anniversary of the approval by Congress of the Greek-Turkish aid program provides an appropriate occasion to extend congratulations and to express the appreciation of the Government to the many American men and women in both the civilian and armed services who have contributed to the achievements of that program in Greece. In 1947, Greece stood on the brink of disaster, the countryside ravaged and the population cruelly terrorized by communist bands whose objective, disguised by false slogans, was to deliver that strategic outpost of freedom into foreign hands. To the ruins of war and occupation, which the Greek people with the help of their wartime allies were striving to repair, were added the mounting ruins of communist-instigated civil strife. The communist challenge to Greece threatened not only the independence of that country but the basic right of nations and of individuals to work out their own destinies in their own way.
That we have been successful in helping the Greek people meet that challenge has been due in no small measure to your farsighted diplomacy and executive vigor as Ambassador and Chief of the American Mission for Aid to Greece during the past two years and to the teamwork you have promoted among the many American officials and employees in Greece.
The fine performance of these devoted public servants and the leadership you have exercised provide an inspiring example of the effectiveness of democracy in action at the service of peace.
Very sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[Honorable Henry F. Grady, Department of State.]
Dear General Van Fleet:
On this third anniversary of the adoption by Congress of the Greek-Turkish aid program I am happy to express the Government's appreciation of the distinguished services you have rendered in furthering American policy in Greece.
The nature of the guerrilla warfare launched by international communism against the people of Greece and the character of the Greek terrain posed unique strategic, tactical and logistic problems for the Greek national forces. Your high military skill, inspiring personality and ability to work in close harmony with your Greek, British and American colleagues contributed greatly to the ultimate success of the valiant Greek forces in overcoming all obstacles and winning through to victory.
This victory has preserved the freedom of Greece and enhanced the security of the United States and of the free world.
Very sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet, Chief, JUSMAPG, American Embassy, Athens, Greece.]
Note: Governor Dwight P. Griswold served as Chief of the American Mission for Aid to Greece from June 1947 until September 1948.
Lincoln MacVeagh served as Ambassador to Greece in 1943 and 1944.
Henry F. Grady served as Ambassador to Greece from June 1948 until June 1950, and was appointed to take over the post of Chief of the American Mission for Aid to Greece after Governor Griswold's resignation became effective.
The appointment of Lt. Gen. James A. Van Fleet as Director of the Joint United States Military Advisory and Planning Group in Greece was confirmed by the Senate on February 18, 1948.
Harry S Truman, Letters of Appreciation on the Third Anniversary of the Greek-Turkish Aid Program. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230661