John Iatrides on the George Polk murder

I first met John Iatrides, Professor of Political Science at Southern
Connecticut State College (now University) in 1971 or '72, when I taught at
Wesleyan.  Along with students (copied BCC here) and friends in DC, I was
interested in studying and challenging US policy in support of the Greek
dictatorship.  Long story short, we failed, but the dictatorship fell
because its own evil incompetence, and one reward for the effort was some
life-long friendships.

We had some stirring, but academically informative sessions, one with
Andreas Papandreou (then in Toronto; he was very charming - I shan't say
more), one with Prof. Ted Couloumbis (now in Athens).  John Iatrides
attended some of these: he was at the time hard at work editing the diaries
of Lincoln McVeagh <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpress.princeton.edu%2Ftitles%2F1206.html&amp;data=02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C040a8c69a0c447944c5908d6c03f5119%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C1%7C636907776031752630&amp;sdata=XW01nT%2FvaESr9ydVaBpyY5EpE4a0Os80Hbb674Sj0Xk%3D&amp;reserved=0>, who'd
been US Minister (Ambassador) to Greece 1933-47.  Since then, he has
published a series of solid studies of Greek history and politics.

I have kept up with him only tangentially but continue to admire his work.
In the '70s, a period of very heated discussions and occasional acrimony,
he  stood out as seeming never to be strident.  He always had a keen sense
of scholarly responsibility including the need to provide fair analyses.
His most stunning statement, still memorable to me, came when some college
student asked, "why doesn't the Greek army just mutiny against their
dictatorial regime?"  John, who I think had actually served in the Greek
army, patiently explained that soldiers in general don't do that sort of
thing, and then, less patiently, said that the US Army is tough enough: in
Greece, punishments were really severe and one daren't disobey orders
ever.  With some details.  I've not forgotten!

Anyhow, the latest issue of *Journal of Cold War Studies* has John's most
recent essay, a review of what we now know about the assassination of
American journalist (CBS) George Polk (for whom the famous award is named)
in Thessaloniki in May 1948.

This is a case that has received a lot of coverage.  The murder remains
unsolved, though there have been a certain number of leads and many more
assertions.  One reason to value the current essay is the expected rigorous
effort at accuracy.  I've attached the pdf and will send it to anyone who
asks; the abstract appears below.  Since I'm sending to classicists I'm
also attaching Yiannis Hamilakis' study of the prison island Makronisos,
where prisoners were cajoled or forced to build model Parthenons to learn
about democracy.  Hamilakis relies heavily on Iatrides for historical
data.  The 1948 (?) *National Geographic* article about an improbably
cheerful Macronisos was for some reason not quite on display, but very
visible,  at the American School of Classical Studies when I visited in the
'70s.

The unsolved crime is one reason to pay attention to this case: both
Communists and anti-Communists were suspected.  Another reason is the heavy
and heavy-handed involvement of American entities eager to find a Communist
guilty.  In the event, a journalist, Gregory Staktopoulos, was arrested,
"confessed" under apparent duress, and convicted: he was released in 1960
and he and his family have repeatedly appealed the conviction, even though
the evidence looks weak and torture may have been used.  From that point of
view, a sobering case.

Iatrides' account is well worth a look.  It's good to see his name, too!

Best,

Dan

Abstract:

In May 1948, as the Cold War escalated and the Communist insurgency in
Greece intensified, the assassination of CBS News journalist George Polk in
Salonica became an international cause célèbre. Polk had openly criticized
the Greek government and questioned the U.S. government’s support of an
undemocratic regime. Most probably, he was killed trying to reach an
insurgent command post to interview guerrilla leaders about the civil war.
With no claims of responsibility for the murder and no credible forensic
evidence, suspicions of culpability fell on many actors, including the
Communists, extreme rightwing elements, common criminals, and rogue British
intelligence operatives. Although responsibility for identifying and
bringing to justice the guilty fell squarely on the Greek authorities, the
country’s heavy dependence on U.S. assistance enabled U.S. officials and
journalists to influence the case. Eager to blame the crime on the
Communists and produce quick results, Greek police and justice officials
fabricated a case against two known Communists (never apprehended) and a
small-time reporter, Gregory Staktopoulos, whose incoherent confessions
were clearly coerced. Staktopoulos’s trial, conviction, long imprisonment,
and failed appeals to the country’s highest court left an indelible stigma
on Greek justice. Polk’s murder—which has never been solved—and
Staktopoulos’s cruel fate illustrate the powerfully corrosive impact of
Cold War perceptions and priorities on the institutions of Western
democracies.