The Greek-Americans and US Foreign Policy since 1950

Abstract

This article offers a general historical overview of Greek-American efforts to influence US foreign policy toward Greece and its neighbors in the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to 1974, when Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus led to the creation of the Greek-American lobby, there had been a series of less organized but determined efforts to influence US policy on the part of the Greek-Americans. After 1978, when the embargo was lifted, the Greek-American lobby retained a part of the influence it had gained, although its ability to shape US policy diminished considerably. Following an introductory sections that deals with issues of interpretation, the rest of this article consists of a chronological account of the Greek-American efforts to influence US policy that stresses the particular characteristics of Greek-American lobbying.