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The Greek Connection: The Life of Elias Demetracopoulos and the Untold Story of Watergate
The incredible true story of the dissident journalist who went from being a 13 year-old resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Greece, to a Washington insider who -- according to Christopher Hitchens -- uncovered the secret behind Watergate.
Elias Demetracopolous (1928-2016) is perhaps one of the most overlooked figures in 20th century political history.
As a 13 year-old in occupied Greece he was tortured and imprisoned for his daring resistance efforts against the Nazis. After his life was miraculously spared he became a journalist, covering the American Embassy in Greece and gaining access to powerful figures in both governments.
When the military junta seized control of Greece in 1967, he escaped the country and for seven years was the leading advocate in Washington for restoring democracy in Greece. Over the years, his scoops and pursuit of uncomfortable truths put him at odds with the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. He became the object of CIA, FBI, and State Department surveillance and smear campaigns. There were Greek plots to kidnap and eliminate him.
Demetracopolous's lifetime of standing up for democracy and a free press against powerful special interests has much to teach us about our own era of journalist intimidation, dark money, and international intrigue.
Elias Demetracopolous (1928-2016) is perhaps one of the most overlooked figures in 20th century political history.
As a 13 year-old in occupied Greece he was tortured and imprisoned for his daring resistance efforts against the Nazis. After his life was miraculously spared he became a journalist, covering the American Embassy in Greece and gaining access to powerful figures in both governments.
When the military junta seized control of Greece in 1967, he escaped the country and for seven years was the leading advocate in Washington for restoring democracy in Greece. Over the years, his scoops and pursuit of uncomfortable truths put him at odds with the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. He became the object of CIA, FBI, and State Department surveillance and smear campaigns. There were Greek plots to kidnap and eliminate him.
Demetracopolous's lifetime of standing up for democracy and a free press against powerful special interests has much to teach us about our own era of journalist intimidation, dark money, and international intrigue.
496 pages, Hardcover
Published July 21, 2020
28 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 10, 2022
A fascinating book, this does for history what Lester BANGS'S Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad TASTE collection does for rock music — takes everything you know, turns it inside-out again like it was a sock, and makes you re-interested in it, even things you think you know, or opinions you'd thought you'd held and were already formed; this is no mean feat.
Queen Frederika [of Greece, natch.] called State Department officials "fairies" and much preferred dealing with the CIA, with whom she was developing warm relations—especially Allen DULLES, who counted her among his high-profile sexual conquests [ftnt. #2, for chapter].
Think The Favourite and the recent Hulu series The GREAT are mere whimsy, or are at best documenting and out-of-DATE phenomenon ... ?? "Fucketh thou be, shall be the whole of the law" almost seems to be the motto of these people, and it's true to this DAY with the Putin and TRUMP families clinging, sadly, to some semblance of a tree branch that might still be there ... Remember that Bob WOODWARD book, referencing that book about WWI, about how it happened because the old order didn't realize it was put of date ... ?? (I don't know which one it was, but it was in one of the Bob WOODWARD books I read recently — check my Goodreads™ stream!!! 😉 👍👍👍 #YEAH ). It's still going on — who'd ever give up the ghost if they didn't have to.
The leader was middle-aged, full-bearded, and had a mane of thick black hair—the caricature of a guerrilla from central casting. [pg. 53]
"All the world's a stage ... " — and this is still going on!
#vikasluniaequalsSHIT
#BELIEVEthis
😉
👍
-EJB (dreamer ... )
Queen Frederika [of Greece, natch.] called State Department officials "fairies" and much preferred dealing with the CIA, with whom she was developing warm relations—especially Allen DULLES, who counted her among his high-profile sexual conquests [ftnt. #2, for chapter].
Think The Favourite and the recent Hulu series The GREAT are mere whimsy, or are at best documenting and out-of-DATE phenomenon ... ?? "Fucketh thou be, shall be the whole of the law" almost seems to be the motto of these people, and it's true to this DAY with the Putin and TRUMP families clinging, sadly, to some semblance of a tree branch that might still be there ... Remember that Bob WOODWARD book, referencing that book about WWI, about how it happened because the old order didn't realize it was put of date ... ?? (I don't know which one it was, but it was in one of the Bob WOODWARD books I read recently — check my Goodreads™ stream!!! 😉 👍👍👍 #YEAH ). It's still going on — who'd ever give up the ghost if they didn't have to.
The leader was middle-aged, full-bearded, and had a mane of thick black hair—the caricature of a guerrilla from central casting. [pg. 53]
"All the world's a stage ... " — and this is still going on!
#vikasluniaequalsSHIT
#BELIEVEthis
😉
👍
-EJB (dreamer ... )
November 7, 2024
Επιτέλους το τελείωσα. Για να πω την αλήθεια ούτε ακουστά δεν είχα τον Ηλία Δημητρακόπουλο.
Μία ζωή πραγματικά βγαλμένη από ταινία ή μάλλον μια ζωή ιδανικό σενάριο για ταινία. Ένας όχι ΑΡΔ δημοσιογράφος που τίμησε το επάγγελμα του και «…συνέβαλε στη νίκη κατά της κτηνωδίας και της ανατροπής της δημοκρατίας μέσα στην ιστορική της πατρίδα». Μία ιστορία από τις πολλές άγνωστες σχεδόν ηρωικές, που το ελληνικό κράτος κάνει ότι μπορεί ώστε να παραμένουν στην αφάνεια.
Ένας διαρκής αγώνας υπεράσπισης της δημοκρατίας και της ελευθερίας του τύπου απέναντι στο σκοτεινό και διεφθαρμένο σύστημα. Πέρα απ' όλα αυτά, ο κοινός παρονομαστής της κάθε σελίδας αυτού του βιβλίου των 600+ σελίδων είναι το διαχρονικό σύνθημα “Φονιάδες των λαών, Αμερικάνοι”. Αυτό!
Μία ζωή πραγματικά βγαλμένη από ταινία ή μάλλον μια ζωή ιδανικό σενάριο για ταινία. Ένας όχι ΑΡΔ δημοσιογράφος που τίμησε το επάγγελμα του και «…συνέβαλε στη νίκη κατά της κτηνωδίας και της ανατροπής της δημοκρατίας μέσα στην ιστορική της πατρίδα». Μία ιστορία από τις πολλές άγνωστες σχεδόν ηρωικές, που το ελληνικό κράτος κάνει ότι μπορεί ώστε να παραμένουν στην αφάνεια.
Ένας διαρκής αγώνας υπεράσπισης της δημοκρατίας και της ελευθερίας του τύπου απέναντι στο σκοτεινό και διεφθαρμένο σύστημα. Πέρα απ' όλα αυτά, ο κοινός παρονομαστής της κάθε σελίδας αυτού του βιβλίου των 600+ σελίδων είναι το διαχρονικό σύνθημα “Φονιάδες των λαών, Αμερικάνοι”. Αυτό!
September 7, 2022
Extremely well researched. This isn't the type of book that I'm usually drawn to. But as the Author is a friend, I was interested in the result of his 10 years of effort. I now start to understand why this was such an overwhelming project. I found this book well written and interesting. Surprisingly, I knew a local family who was in exile from Greece and who was one of the subjects discussed in this book. A worthwhile read.
April 21, 2021
The word hero is used too liberally in our times. In the case of Elias Demetracopoulos, however, it’s amply merited. Before the publication of “The Greek Connection”, it would have been best accompanied by the adjective “unsung”. But now James H Barron in this superb biography has given an ordinary Greek who became an extraordinary fighter for freedom and democracy his due.
In his teenage years alone Elias experienced and accomplished so much many won’t be able to achieve in a lifetime. Barely a teenager, he joined the resistance against the Nazis during the German occupation of Greece in WWII; he was captured, imprisoned, tortured. In the ensuing civil war, he used his WWII “credentials” to help kidnapped relatives escape; as they were fleeing, he took a bullet in the leg. And then he finished high school.
Following his calling, he became a journalist. He was unyielding in his integrity, ambitious and tenacious in his pursuit of news - and far from modest. A quick study, with above-average (for Greece) English, he was soon working with big names in media and proceeded to run afoul of the CIA, KYP (the Greek Secret Service) and the American Embassy which “did not welcome independent reporting”. The enmity he roused plagued him for most of his life, with the various agencies of the US government concocting and spreading lies and misinformation about him. Following the military coup in Greece in 1967, when once again he refused to compromise, he barely managed to escape to the US where he became a tireless activist against the junta in a country where both Democratic and Republican administrations as well as the majority of the Greek American community were on the side of the “Colonels”. (As a Cypriot, I was deeply touched to read of his desperate attempts to stop the Turkish invasion.)
Throughout his life, Elias found himself at the centre of events, sometime influencing them inadvertently. He was caught in the crossfire between various centres of power like the US military and administration, and the embassy in Greece. But he played the game masterfully, gaining many staunch supporters and friends along the way who appreciated his uncompromising integrity, loyalty and fierce protectiveness of his sources. His unlikely survival (real and professional), time and again, was due to them. Although his standards where non-negotiable, he could at the same time be strategic, willing to overlook past grievances or even current differences of opinion in order to achieve his goals. He thus adroitly navigated the complexities of history and politics.
Demetracopoulos’s anti-dictatorship activity led him to an investigation connected with the Watergate scandal - a part of his life the book explores at length. Although this is not an exhaustive history of Watergate, Barron, as with the other phases of his hero’s life, provides sufficient historical background so the reader can follow along and appreciate Elias’s role and challenges. Demetracopoulos discovered the involvement of Tom Pappas, a corrupt Greek-American tycoon, with both the junta in Greece and the Nixon campaign, and the interconnection between the two: Pappas arranged for the Greek secret service to channel funds to the Nixon campaign - earning him in the Watergate tapes the moniker: “the Greek bearing gifts”. Had Larrry O’Brien, advisor on Hubert Humprhey’s campaign, to whom Demetracopoulos passed the information, decided to use it, the course of history may have been very different. The book postulates that this was some of what the burglars had been looking for when they broke into the Watergate building.
Although mainly a biography of a real-life hero (with all his human flaws), the book is also an impactful exposé of the dirty business of politics in general. It demonstrates, for example, how petty grievances can lead to gross ineptitude on the part of goverment agencies. It is dense with information which is so deftly presented, it is a page-turner. Barron manages to masterfully pull the story out of history and in so doing compromises neither.
———————
Disclaimer: I had some limited contact with Elias Demetracopoulos for a few years and as a result I am mentioned in the acknowledgements of this book.
In his teenage years alone Elias experienced and accomplished so much many won’t be able to achieve in a lifetime. Barely a teenager, he joined the resistance against the Nazis during the German occupation of Greece in WWII; he was captured, imprisoned, tortured. In the ensuing civil war, he used his WWII “credentials” to help kidnapped relatives escape; as they were fleeing, he took a bullet in the leg. And then he finished high school.
Following his calling, he became a journalist. He was unyielding in his integrity, ambitious and tenacious in his pursuit of news - and far from modest. A quick study, with above-average (for Greece) English, he was soon working with big names in media and proceeded to run afoul of the CIA, KYP (the Greek Secret Service) and the American Embassy which “did not welcome independent reporting”. The enmity he roused plagued him for most of his life, with the various agencies of the US government concocting and spreading lies and misinformation about him. Following the military coup in Greece in 1967, when once again he refused to compromise, he barely managed to escape to the US where he became a tireless activist against the junta in a country where both Democratic and Republican administrations as well as the majority of the Greek American community were on the side of the “Colonels”. (As a Cypriot, I was deeply touched to read of his desperate attempts to stop the Turkish invasion.)
Throughout his life, Elias found himself at the centre of events, sometime influencing them inadvertently. He was caught in the crossfire between various centres of power like the US military and administration, and the embassy in Greece. But he played the game masterfully, gaining many staunch supporters and friends along the way who appreciated his uncompromising integrity, loyalty and fierce protectiveness of his sources. His unlikely survival (real and professional), time and again, was due to them. Although his standards where non-negotiable, he could at the same time be strategic, willing to overlook past grievances or even current differences of opinion in order to achieve his goals. He thus adroitly navigated the complexities of history and politics.
Demetracopoulos’s anti-dictatorship activity led him to an investigation connected with the Watergate scandal - a part of his life the book explores at length. Although this is not an exhaustive history of Watergate, Barron, as with the other phases of his hero’s life, provides sufficient historical background so the reader can follow along and appreciate Elias’s role and challenges. Demetracopoulos discovered the involvement of Tom Pappas, a corrupt Greek-American tycoon, with both the junta in Greece and the Nixon campaign, and the interconnection between the two: Pappas arranged for the Greek secret service to channel funds to the Nixon campaign - earning him in the Watergate tapes the moniker: “the Greek bearing gifts”. Had Larrry O’Brien, advisor on Hubert Humprhey’s campaign, to whom Demetracopoulos passed the information, decided to use it, the course of history may have been very different. The book postulates that this was some of what the burglars had been looking for when they broke into the Watergate building.
Although mainly a biography of a real-life hero (with all his human flaws), the book is also an impactful exposé of the dirty business of politics in general. It demonstrates, for example, how petty grievances can lead to gross ineptitude on the part of goverment agencies. It is dense with information which is so deftly presented, it is a page-turner. Barron manages to masterfully pull the story out of history and in so doing compromises neither.
———————
Disclaimer: I had some limited contact with Elias Demetracopoulos for a few years and as a result I am mentioned in the acknowledgements of this book.
January 30, 2024
Εξαιρετικά καλογραμμένη και τεκμηριωμένη βιογραφία του (άγνωστου στη γενιά Χ -και τις κατοπινές- της Ελλάδας) δημοσιογράφου Ηλία Δημητρακόπουλου. Δυστυχώς, δεν αποφεύγει πάντα το κλασικό αδύνατο κομμάτι των βιογραφιών και μετατρέπεται σε αγιογραφία κάποιες φορές, αλλά σε τέτοιο βαθμό ώστε να χάνει μόνο ένα αστεράκι. Και, ναι, όταν μιλάμε για ένα δημοσιογράφο τέτοιας εμβέλειας και με τέτοιες εμπειρίες, το αν χτένιζε τα μαλλιά του πίσω ή σε μια συγκεκριμένη περίσταση φόρεσε μπλε σακάκι, πείτε με μαμούχαλο, αλλά τα βρίσκω δευτερευούσης σημασίας.
Ωστόσο, οφείλει να αναγνωρίσει κανείς στο συγγραφέα το πολύ ψάξιμο που έκανε και την εκπληκτική του εξοικείωση με τη νεώτερη ελληνική ιστορία, σε βαθμό που να βάζει κάτω οποιονδήποτε σχεδόν Έλληνα κάτω των 45.
Απολαυστική, διδακτική, χωρίς υπερβολικές ακρότητες (εντάξει, παραγράφονται τα μπλέηζερ και το πόσο περιζήτητος εργένης ήταν ο Ηλίας και αν κροτάλιζαν οι ωοθήκες των γυναικών μόλις περνούσε μπροστά τους), αξίζει να διαβαστεί και για τον Ηλία και τα χρόνια Ιστορίας που κανείς δεν σας δίδαξε στο σχολείο. Είναι πολύ σημαντικό να θυμόμαστε ότι η φιλελεύθερη (όχι με την οικονομική έννοια) Δημοκρατία στη χώρα δεν είναι ούτε 50 ετών και κάποια πράγματα που σήμερα θεωρούμε δεδομένα, κάποτε δεν ήταν και έπρεπε να ματώσει κανείς γι' αυτά. Το φρικαλέο "παλάτι" με τις βλαπτικές παρεμβάσεις του στην πολιτική ζωή, οι πάντα "ανήσυχοι" στρατιωτικοί έτοιμοι να παρέμβουν για να "σώσουν" τη χώρα, η αντικομμουνιστική υστερία, το ξύλο με κάθε ευκαιρία, τα πιστοποιητικά κοινωνικών φρονημάτων, οι βασανισμοί και οι διώξεις, η ξεδιάντροπη ανάμιξη ξένων κυβερνήσεων και υπηρεσιών στα εσωτερικά ζητήματα της χώρας, όλα αυτά δείχνουν από γελοία έως τραγικά και σίγουρα απίστευτα σήμερα, αλλά κάποτε ήταν καθημερινότητα.
Ωστόσο, οφείλει να αναγνωρίσει κανείς στο συγγραφέα το πολύ ψάξιμο που έκανε και την εκπληκτική του εξοικείωση με τη νεώτερη ελληνική ιστορία, σε βαθμό που να βάζει κάτω οποιονδήποτε σχεδόν Έλληνα κάτω των 45.
Απολαυστική, διδακτική, χωρίς υπερβολικές ακρότητες (εντάξει, παραγράφονται τα μπλέηζερ και το πόσο περιζήτητος εργένης ήταν ο Ηλίας και αν κροτάλιζαν οι ωοθήκες των γυναικών μόλις περνούσε μπροστά τους), αξίζει να διαβαστεί και για τον Ηλία και τα χρόνια Ιστορίας που κανείς δεν σας δίδαξε στο σχολείο. Είναι πολύ σημαντικό να θυμόμαστε ότι η φιλελεύθερη (όχι με την οικονομική έννοια) Δημοκρατία στη χώρα δεν είναι ούτε 50 ετών και κάποια πράγματα που σήμερα θεωρούμε δεδομένα, κάποτε δεν ήταν και έπρεπε να ματώσει κανείς γι' αυτά. Το φρικαλέο "παλάτι" με τις βλαπτικές παρεμβάσεις του στην πολιτική ζωή, οι πάντα "ανήσυχοι" στρατιωτικοί έτοιμοι να παρέμβουν για να "σώσουν" τη χώρα, η αντικομμουνιστική υστερία, το ξύλο με κάθε ευκαιρία, τα πιστοποιητικά κοινωνικών φρονημάτων, οι βασανισμοί και οι διώξεις, η ξεδιάντροπη ανάμιξη ξένων κυβερνήσεων και υπηρεσιών στα εσωτερικά ζητήματα της χώρας, όλα αυτά δείχνουν από γελοία έως τραγικά και σίγουρα απίστευτα σήμερα, αλλά κάποτε ήταν καθημερινότητα.
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