The 1967 Greek military junta coup and the Cyprus Crisis damaged the American image across Greece. Thus, during the 1970s, the consulate began to focus more on improving public relations through an active outreach program to neighboring provincial cities in northern Greece. This decade was a hectic one for the consulate General as it dealt with several drug trafficking cases originating in the Middle East and Africa. The former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Dimitri Negroponte, served at the post from 1975 to 1977.