On this day in 1967, the CIA-backed a military coup in Greece which put in power a fascist junta, which implemented martial law, beat, tortured & murdered thousands & arrested 8,000 people in its first month in power. 
During its 7 years in power, the junta jailed hundreds of thousands of Greeks for political reasons, forced tens of thousands into exile & tortured 3,500 people. It went as far as outlawing miniskirts, long hair & foreign newspapers & made church attendance mandatory for youth.
The coup put in power—for the first time ever—a CIA agent as a leader of a foreign country. George Papadopoulos, who became leader of the junta, had been on the CIA payroll for 15 years & received military training in the US.
During Nazi occupation of Greece during WWII, Papadopoulos served as captain in the Nazi security forces, where he was in charge of hunting down Greek anti-Nazi resistance fighters.
nytimes.com/1973/07/01/arc…
nytimes.com/1973/07/01/arc…
The US had a paranoid fear that Greece was about to go communist; however, the liberal Georgios Papandreou (who was set to return to prime minister) was no radical. In fact, the US media labeled his polices FDR, "New Deal"-style.
Perhaps most concerning to the US, was Papandreou’s son Andreas, who was expected to get a post in the new government. Andreas talked about kicking US troops out of Greece, his willingness to open relations with the USSR & his desire to pull Greece out of NATO.
The CIA held a meeting in the White House 2 months before the coup where the upcoming coup was discussed & decided that it would go ahead. Of the 5 officers who took power in the coup, four were connected to the US military or CIA.
During the 7 years of junta rule, the US provided major military support, which was used to crackdown on dissent. Military police arrested the junta's political opponents & shipped them to some of the Aegean's most desolate islands where they were tortured.
