Foreign News: While the Cat's Away

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Nobody was looking. Premier Nicholas Plastiras was touring Macedonia. Vice Premier George Papandreou and Economic Coordination Minister Emmanuel Tsouderos were in Washington for economic negotiations. The new U.S. ambassador, John E. Peurifoy, had not yet arrived in Athens. To Sophocles Venizelos, one of Greece's more ambitious politicos, it looked like the perfect moment to make a grab for power.

Venizelos had been disgruntled ever since U.S. Ambassador Henry Grady intervened squarely in Greek politics last March, and gave a thumbsdown on a pro-royalist government headed by Liberal Venizelos. Instead, Greece got a coalition government under Middle-of-the-Roader Plastiras, who has been accused of being too soft toward the Communists. Five members of Venizelos' Liberal Party were represented in the coalition cabinet, but Venizelos himself stayed aloof. When Venizelos ordered the five to resign last fortnight, the cabinet promptly collapsed and King Paul entrusted Venizelos himself with the task of forming a new government. Plastiras and Papandreou rushed home, but Tsouderos, one of Greece's ablest politicans, stayed on in Washington. This week it looked as if Venizelos would stay on as Premier for a while.