| Andreas Papandreou | |
| Office: | Prime Minister of Greece |
| President: | Konstantinos Karamanlis Kostis Stephanopoulos |
| Term Start: | 13 October 1993 |
| Term End: | 17 January 1996 |
| Predecessor: | Konstantinos Mitsotakis |
| Successor: | Costas Simitis |
| President1: | Konstantinos Karamanlis Christos Sartzetakis |
| Term Start1: | 21 October 1981 |
| Term End1: | 2 July 1989 |
| Predecessor1: | Giorgos Rallis |
| Successor1: | Tzannis Tzannetakis |
| Office2: | Leader of the Opposition |
| Term Start2: | 11 April 1990 |
| Term End2: | 13 October 1993 |
| Predecessor2: | Vacant |
| Successor2: | Miltiadis Evert |
| Term Start3: | 12 October 1989 |
| Term End3: | 23 November 1989 |
| Predecessor3: | Konstantinos Mitsotakis |
| Successor3: | Vacant |
| Term Start4: | 28 November 1977 |
| Term End4: | 21 October 1981 |
| Predecessor4: | Giorgos Mavros |
| Successor4: | Giorgos Rallis |
| Office5: | President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement |
| Term Start5: | 3 September 1974 |
| Term End5: | 23 June 1996 |
| Predecessor5: | Position established |
| Successor5: | Costas Simitis |
| Office6: | Member of the Hellenic Parliament |
| Term Start6: | 17 November 1974 |
| Term End6: | 23 June 1996 |
| Term Start7: | 16 February 1964 |
| Term End7: | 21 April 1967 |
| Birth Name: | Andreas Papandreou |
| Birth Date: | 5 February 1919 |
| Birth Place: | Chios, Greece |
| Death Place: | Athens, Greece |
| Party: | Panhellenic Socialist Movement |
| Mother: | Sofia Mineico |
| Father: | Georgios Papandreou |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | George Sofia Nikos Andrikos Emilia |
| Alma Mater: | University of Athens Harvard University |
| Signature: | Andreas-g-papandreou-signature-circa1985.svg |
| Website: | Andreas G. Papandreou Foundation |
| Branch: | United States Navy |
| Citizenship: |
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Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (el|Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου,[1] in Greek, Modern (1453-); pronounced as /anˈðreas papanˈðreu/; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician, and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, which he led from 1974 to 1996. He served three terms as the 3rd and 8th prime minister of Greece. His father, Georgios Papandreou, and his son, George Papandreou, have both also served as prime ministers of Greece.
Papandreou's party win in the 1981 election was a milestone in the political history of Greece, since it was the first time that the elected government had a predominantly socialist political program. The achievements of his first two governments include the official recognition of the leftist and communist resistance groups of the Greek Resistance (EAM/ELAS) against the Axis powers occupation, the establishment of the National Health System and the Supreme Council for Personnel Selection (ASEP), the passage of Law 1264/1982 which secured the right to strike and greatly improved the rights of workers, the constitutional amendment of 1985–1986 which strengthened parliamentarism and reduced the powers of the indirectly-elected president, the conduct of an assertive and independent Greek foreign policy, the expansion in the power of local governments, many progressive reforms in Greek law, and the granting of permission to the refugees from the Greek Civil War of Greek ethnicity to return home to Greece.[2] [3] [4]
During his tenure as the prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989, the financial situation of Greece was worsened by dysfunctional[5] and scandal-infested governments,[6] on average annual inflation of the order of 20%, and large budget deficits (over 10% of GDP). The public debt of Greece as a function of gross domestic product (GDP) almost tripled while the Greek economy remained relatively stagnant,[7] [8] with an average annual increase in GDP of 0.8% over the 1981-1989 period.[9] By the end of Papandreou's tenure, the Greek economy was in a dire condition as it had diverged from the European average and was furthest from the Euro convergence criteria than the other member states, resulting in a reputation nationally and in European circles as that of a `black sheep.'[10] [11]
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), which he founded and led, was the first non-communist political party in Greek history with a mass-based organization, introducing an unprecedented level of political and social participation in Greek society.[4] In a poll conducted by Kathimerini in 2007, 48% of those polled called Papandreou the "most important Greek prime minister".[12] In the same poll, the first four years of Papandreou's government after Metapolitefsi were voted as the best government Greece ever had.[13]
Papandreou was born on the island of Chios, Greece, the son of Zofia (Sofia) Mineyko (1883–1981) and Greek liberal politician and future prime minister George Papandreou. His maternal grandfather was Polish-Lithuanian-born public figure Zygmunt Mineyko, and his maternal grandmother was Greek. Before university, he attended Athens College, a private school in Greece. He attended the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens from 1937 until 1938 when, during the totalitarian dictatorship led by Ioannis Metaxas, he was arrested for purported Trotskyism. Following representation in court by his father, he was allowed to leave for the US.[14]
In 1943, Papandreou received a PhD degree in economics from Harvard University.[15] [16] Immediately after earning his doctorate, Papandreou joined America's war effort and volunteered to serve in the US Navy, serving as an examiner of models for repairing warships, and as a hospital corpsman at the Bethesda Naval Hospital for war wounded.[17] [18] He returned to Harvard in 1946 and served as a lecturer and associate professor until 1947. He then held professorships at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, the University of California, Berkeley (where he was chair of the Department of Economics), Stockholm University, and York University in Toronto where he worked alongside long term academic advisor Christos Paraskevopoulos.
He was married to Christina Rasia from 1941 to 1951. In 1948, he entered into a relationship with University of Minnesota journalism student Margaret Chant.[19] After Chant obtained a divorce, and after his own divorce from his first wife Christina Rasia, Papandreou and Chant were married in 1951. They had three sons and a daughter. Papandreou also had, with Swedish actress and TV presenter Ragna Nyblom, a daughter out of wedlock, Emilia Nyblom, who was born in 1969 in Sweden.[20] [21] Papandreou divorced his second wife Margaret Chant-Papandreou in 1989, and married Dimitra Liani who was 37 years his junior.[22]
Papandreou died on 23 June 1996. The government declared 4 days of national mourning,[23] and at his funeral procession producing crowds of "hundreds of thousands"[24] to bid farewell to Andreas.
His will generated much discussion because he left everything to his 41-year-old third wife. He left nothing to his second wife, to whom he was married for 38 years, their four children, or his illegitimate Swedish daughter.[25]
Greece was recovering from the Axis occupation in World War II and immediate 1944-49 civil war. The latter dominated the political dialogue in the following decades; the underlying question was how power basis swifts from the Right (victors of the civil war) to the Center. Political stability in Greece was balanced with the support of three factions: the King along with the military forces, the Americans, and the political establishment. The political institutions of the restored Kingdom of Greece were fragile due to military (often pro-royal) interventions preventing democratically elected parliaments from executing their campaign promises; the root of these disputes was the constitutional crisis by the disagreement between Eleftherios Venizelos and King Constantine I on the entry of Greece in World War I with the Allies, and resulted in the National Schism with the expulsion of the King and the creation of the short-lived Second Hellenic Republic (1924-1935). Overall, militarized politics was always a danger since Greece had eight military coups since World War I. The Greek economy was weak, but rapidly growing due to American aid from the Marshall Plan and other sources (in total approximately 3.75 billion US dollars) as Americans feared that the poor economic conditions would make Greece susceptible to Communist rhetoric. Moreover, Americans recognized the strategic significance of Greece's location in the Eastern Mediterranean, invested in having four military bases in Greece, and had close ties with the Greek military. Greece entered NATO in 1952. The politicians often acted between the King and the Americans.
Andreas Papandreou started his career as an economic professor, first in Minneapolis and then in Berkley, and achieved considerable fame in his field. While he was chair of the department at Berkley, he was pressured by his father to return to Greece to groom him as his successor Andreas Papandreou initially resisted his father's requests. However, he eventually returned to Greece in 1959, where he headed an economic development research program by invitation of Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis. In 1960, he was appointed chairman of the board of directors, general director of the Athens Economic Research Center, and advisor to the Bank of Greece.He also received funding from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations to promote projects aligned to liberal internationalism;[26] initially American officials hoped that Andreas Papandreou would be a stabilizing force in Greek politics.[26] However, Andreas Papandreou started to develop a political ideology, heavily influenced by the American progressive liberalism from his years in the US, to secure the support of non-communist left-leaning Greek voting blocks as he considered the only way to assist his father in becoming Prime Minister. In this ideology, the King, the armed forces, and the Americans are described as having "vested interests" that are not in the best interests of the Greek people.[27]
In the elections of 1963, his father, George Papandreou, head of the Center Union, became prime minister of Greece, and his son became chief economic advisor. In the following year, Andreas Papandreou renounced his American citizenship and was elected to the Greek Parliament in the 1964 Greek legislative election.[28] He immediately became Minister to the Prime Minister (in effect, assistant Prime Minister) and the leader of the left wing of the party. The rapid ascension of Andreas Papandreou by his father created displeasure among members of the Center Union party, particularly Constantine Mitsotakis, who were promoted through rank and file. Both Papandreou advocated for the liberalization of Greek society, which was rapidly urbanizing, resulting in large salary increases for police, judges, and teachers. However, seeds of resentment towards both Papandreou from the military grew as they were excluded from salary increases, and Papandreous attempt to gain control of the military, which alarmed many officers without breaking their power. The latter created friction with the King, who wanted to be in command of the army and not the elected government. Papandreou's government also released all the political prisoners as a first step towards healing wounds from the civil war. In foreign policy, Andreas Papandreou criticized the presence of American military and intelligence in Greece by describing Greece as a colony of the United States and publicly taking a neutral stand in Cold War. Papandreou rhetoric intensified after his father's visit as Prime Minister to Washington with President Johnson in July 1964 to discuss the Cyprus dispute, particularly his interview on Le Monde on 4 October 1964 was politically turbulent, resulting in the sudden but temporary resignation of Andreas Papandreou. Andreas' public attacks against the King and the Americans greatly disturbed the political balance. The conservatives feared that Andreas was a secret Communist, leading them to another civil war. The US embassy officials, sensitive to these public attacks during the Cold War, and his father (and as Prime Minister) repeatedly requested Andreas tone down his emotive rhetoric. Despite promises that he would do so, Andreas continued actively campaigning, further deepening divisions and prolonging the political instability in the pre-1967 coup period. Andreas increasingly became the target of ultra-rightists who feared that following any new elections, which the nearly 80-year-old Georgios Papandreou would likely win, his son would be the real focus of power in the party.[29]
In 1965, while the "Aspida" conspiracy within the Hellenic Army (alleged by the political opposition to involving Andreas personally) was being investigated, Georgios Papandreou decided to remove the defense minister and assume the post himself to protect his son from investigations. Constantine II of Greece refused to endorse this move since this would create a conflict of interest, which forced George Papandreou's resignation; the events following this became known as the Apostasia of 1965. For the next twenty-two months, there was no elected government, and hundreds of demonstrations took place, with many being injured and killed in clashes with the police. The King tried to lure members of the Center Union party to his side and form a temporary government. He succeeded in bringing 45 members to his side, who later were called 'apostates,' and the most prominent was Mitsotakis. To end the political deadlock, his father attempted a more moderate approach with the King, but Andreas Papandreou publicly rejected his father's effort and attacked the whole establishment, attracting the support of 41 members of the Center Union in an effort designed to gain the party's leadership. With the politicians unable to sort out their differences, rumors of a military coup intensified, and before the next election took place (scheduled for 28 May 1967) and potentially both Papandreou returned to power, anti-Communist Colonels led the coup d'état of 21 April 1967.
When the Regime of the Colonels led by Georgios Papadopoulos seized power in April 1967, Andreas Papandreou was captured and charged with treason. Not only did the junta revile Andreas Papandreou as a threat, but also his political opponents and former allies, including his own father, as the man chiefly responsible for the collapse of Greek democracy. Soon after, Gust Avrakotos, a Greek-American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer assigned to Athens, told the Colonels that the U.S. Government wished for Papandreou to be released and allowed to leave the country with his family. Avrakotos violated his orders, however, and unofficially advised the Colonels to "Shoot the motherfucker because he's going to come back to haunt you." Under heavy pressure from American officials and academics, such as John Kenneth Galbraith, a friend of Andreas since their Harvard days, the military regime released Andreas on Christmas day 1967 on condition that he leave the country. Papandreou then moved to Sweden with his wife, four children, and mother, where he accepted a post for one year at Stockholm University. Afterward, he moved to University of Toronto, where he stayed until 1974.
In exile, Andreas was a political pariah and excluded from political forces to restore democracy in Greece. In the beginning, he actively campaigned, relying on his American network for a US intervention to bring down the junta, but then changed his mind and favored military resistance. Papandreou publicly accused the CIA of being responsible for the 1967 coup and became increasingly critical of the US administration, often stating that Greece was a US "colony" and a Cold War "garrison state". In 1968, Andreas Papandreou formed an anti-dictatorship organization, the Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK), which sought to 'violently overthrow' the military regime. Reacting to the creation of PAK, his father added: "Political leaders do not head up conspiratorial organizations" and urged his son to work within the Central Union party. George Papandreou, who was under house arrest since the coup and already at an advanced age, died in 1968; Andreas Papandreou was not allowed by the junta regime to attend his father's funeral. In the early 1970s, during the latter phase of the dictatorship in Greece, Andreas Papandreou opposed the process of political normalization attempted by Georgios Papadopoulos and his appointed Prime Minister, Spyros Markezinis. Overall, Papandreou's rhetoric found little response in Greece and whose activities contributed little to the downfall of the junta, which in effect collapsed because of the poor handling of the events leading to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974.
Papandreou returned to Greece after the fall of the junta in 1974, during metapolitefsi. The dominant and leading political figure right after the fall of the junta and the restoration of democracy in Greece was Karamanlis, while Papandreou continued to have the stigma of past events. On 6 August 1974, Andreas Papandreou dissolved PAK in Winterthur, Switzerland, without announcing it publicly.[30] He was offered the leadership of his father's old party, which had evolved into Centre Union – New Forces. However, he turned it down by rejecting his father's ideological heritage as a Venizelist liberal, declaring himself a democratic socialist. Instead, he formed a new 'radical' party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) on 3 September 1974. Most of his former PAK companions, as well as members of other leftist groups such as the Democratic Defense joined the new party. The founding charter of PASOK advocated social liberation, a radical re-orientation of the country's foreign policy, Greek withdrawal from NATO, the closure of the US military bases, and rejection of the option of membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), which was dismissed as a capitalist club. In 1974 elections, PASOK received 13.5% of the vote.
Andreas Papandreou was able to salvage his political career by doubling down on his pre-junta-developed ideology by combining it with nationalist elements, which was assisted by three major events. First, the US interactions with the junta after the coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus reinforced in the imagination of the Greek populace the conspiratorial involvement of the US in the Colonels' junta, and thus, Andreas Papandreou depicted himself and his father as victims of larger forces. Second, the oil crisis in 1973 and 1979 deeply affected the Greek economy, and the inability of Karamanlis' governments after the democratic restoration to address the rising economic problems further increased the frustration of the Greek population. Third, Karamanlis, the dominant political figure in bringing democracy back to Greece, became President of Greece in 1980, leaving a power vacuum in the upcoming elections of 1981. The changes (some unrealistic) promised by Andreas resonated with the Greek people, who sought a break from the failed politics of the past. In 1977 elections PASOK received 25.3% of the vote, doubling in size from 1974, and Papandreou became leader of the opposition.
The radical and uncompromising positions (mostly anti-American, anti-NATO, and anti-EEC) of Andreas Papandreou, along with his rising popularity, renewed fears of another military coup in the Right and Greece's allies. After the 1977 elections, Karamanlis toured the European capitals, urging for Greece's quicker entry into EEC as this may reduce the temptation for military intervention if Papandreou implements his promises once in power. Foreign leaders agreed with Karamanlis on a plan for Greece's entry to ECC. Papandreou started to soften his tone, without abandoning his initial positions, by calling for a referendum the entry to EEC after 1977 as he was trying to win over the crucial share of the vote from the centrist Union of the Democratic Centre (EDIK) after its disintegration from its performance in the elections of 1977, and the entry to EEC was becoming positively popular among the Greeks. Papandreou frequently stated in his campaigns prior 1981 elections regarding the entry to EEC: