However, in 1965 he was heavily involved in the events known as the "Apostasy", which led to the fall of the Center Union government.
[1] His father, Evangelos Garoufalias, had served as Mayor of Arta and as Member of Parliament.
Garoufalias was named Greek Minister of Defense in the third Papandreou government, from February 1964 to July 1965.
He clashed with the Prime Minister's son, Andreas Papandreou (also a minister in the government) over the control of the Greek military; Garoufalias took the side of the King in the events known as the "Apostasy", which contributed to the downfall of the government, a deep political crisis and, eventually, to the imposition of the dictatorial Regime of the Colonels.
[2] In his 1982 book "Greece and Cyprus: Tragic Mistakes, Lost Opportunities, February 19, 1964 – July 15, 1965", Garoufalias claimed that the Greek Army division that was secretly dispatched to Cyprus in 1964 was his idea,[3] an opinion vociferously rejected by Andreas Papandreou, who maintained that Garoufalias's role on Cyprus was very limited, and that he merely followed orders, without even being invited to the most important meetings.