Greek military bids civilians take over; Karamanlis returns, sworn in as premier 40 years ago today (Jul 23 1974)

(Tuesday, July 23, 1974) — The military rulers of Greece announced today that they had decided to turn the nation back to civilian political leaders. Konstantinos Karamanlis, the former conservative Premiere who governed from 1955 to 1963 before his self-imposed exile in Paris, returned to Athens and was sworn in as head of a new government of national unity.