Memoirs of Peter Boudoures Chapter 43 United Nations in San Francisco

Boudoures with President Truman

The war went on until 1945 when the Germans and the Japanese were defeated. The United Nations Organization was formed and the first meeting was held in the Opera House here in San Francisco. In the meantime, General Plastiras returned from exile to Greece as Prime Minister. He sent John Sophianopoulos , Minister of Foreign Affairs, to San Francisco to represent Greece together with a group of about forty-five people. I had the pleasure of greeting them when they arrived. The local people asked me to be chairman of a banquet which we gave at the Palace Hotel. It was a huge success and it gave me the opportunity to make new friends with people in the Greek Government.

Shortly thereafter, I learned from Spiro Skouras in New York that, at the request of the Greek War Relief, two United States congressmen were going to Greece to investigate the effect of the aid being furnished by the UNRRA. One of the Congressmen was Cecil King from Southern California, and the other, whose name I forget, was from Minnesota. The UNRRA was the United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration founded for the purpose of helping peoples around the world get back on their feet. The UNNRA had an office in Greece.