For most of its independent history, Chile has been one of the most highly regarded democracies in Latin America, garnering international political respect that other countries often fraught with political strife couldn’t. Prior to 1973, the vast majority of Chile’s independent history is characterized by the presence of some sort of democratic government. Yet in less than two decades, its political climate, both domestic and international, became a paragon of political polarization that provided the ideal environment for a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, whose seventeen-year long brutal military is still a fresh wound for the country. This project is an investigation into the polarization of politics from the 1958 presidential election to the 1970 Chilean presidential election, particularly, but not exclusively, studying the involvement of the United States in this phenomenon, both overt and covert. The ten primary sources in this project demonstrate involvement through being a mixture of public media such as newpapers, magazines, and speeches, and government documents of varying degrees of varying degrees of secrecy prior to declassification. The juxtaposition between the United States’ publicly broadcasted ideology and policy and the formerly classified documents filled with indisputable proof of extraordinarily ethically questionable meddling and outright violations of classic American ideals comes together to demonstrate how inseparable the United States was from the creation of this volatile environment
Democratic History
Chile declared independence from Spain in 1818 under the leadership of Bernardo O’Higgins, and drove the final royalist holdout out in 1826. The first long-lasting constitution was created in 1833, and established the grounds for Chilean democracy.1 This constitution was suspended in 1924 when a military junta took power at the end of the parliamentary era of Chilean politics (which began with the 1891 civil war), and was replaced in 1925 after the fall of the Junta.2 The 1925 constitution would be the one present at the time of the 1970 election, and would be eventually replaced in 1980 under strict control by the Pinochet regime.3 A heavily amended version of that constitution lasts to this day.
Basic Rules of Presidential Elections (at the time)
- Presidential terms were six years.
- Any given qualified citizen can be President of Chile for a total of two terms, but they cannot be consecutive.
- Candidates must have a majority to win outright, with a plurality, or lack of majority, triggering a Congressional runoff vote weeks later.
Pluralities occur often in Chile, including in more recent elections, though the concept is most pertinent to 1958 and 1970 in the case of this project
Important Politicians, Groups, and Policies
Salvador Allende
Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens (1908-1973), a noted friend of Fidel Castro, is in many regards the singular politician that this time period revolves around. He was a co-founder of the Chilean Socialist Party and the leader of Unidad Popular, the leftist coalition he led to victory in 1970. He ran for President in 1952, 1958, 1964, and 1970. Of those four, all but the 1952 election are extremely pertinent in the evolution of Chilean Democracy. This is due to him receiving barely over five percent of the vote that cycle—an amount not nearly significant enough to alarm the United States. This changes in 1958, when he was the runner up in a plurality, moving him onward to the congressional runoff. Independent leftist candidate and priest Antonio Zamorano, who received approximately three percent of the vote, is generally attributed as the reason Allende lost to Jorge Alessandri. There is little doubt that the votes he received would have gone to Allende.4
It will be demonstrated in the documents that the United States would not leave the 1964 and 1970 Chilean elections up to chance as much as they did in 1958, doing anything they could, not even stopping short of a coup in order to prevent his eventual ascension to the presidency in 1970, making him the first democratically elected Marxist not just in Latin America, but the entire world, marking the failure of a decade’s worth of foreign policy in the eyes of the US State Department and the CIA.
Eduardo Frei
Eduardo Frei Montalva (1911-1982), President of Chile between 1964 and 1970 and founding member of the Christian Democrats holds a role in both holding off the election of Salvador Allende, by beating him by a wide margin in the 1964 election, and making it inevitable via his US-backed campaign and policy.5 The US poured a ludicrous amount of money into his campaign and party, as well as into supporting his policy, the Revolution in Liberty, a set of ideals that paired perfectly with the Alliance for Progress’ ideals and the United States’ desire to use Chile as a testing ground. The two main facets of the plan were “Chileanization” of the copper industry via heavy investments in foreign companies, the profits going to improving infrastructure, and helping 100,000 landless peasants purchase land.6 Both facets fell short of their goals, with investments not be significant enough and barely more than a quarter of the peasants receiving land.7 The strength of Unidad Popular, the leftist coalition, grew as a result.
Radomiro Tomic
Radomiro Tomic (1914-1992) was the Christian Democrat candidate in the 1970 election as well as a founder of the party8. He was a major member of the left-leaning faction of the party. He was theoretically supposed to be the heir to the Revolution in Liberty along with the other policy of the Frei administration, after having been Frei’s ambassador to the United States.9 Unfortunately for the both the Christian Democrats and the United States, his rhetoric did not line up with this, a very likely electable role. His platform was further left than the center-of-left platform common to the Christian Democrats. He spent time trying to pull in voters from further left, out of Unidad Popular, which was generally a failure. He was perceived by voters and politicians to be self-centered and talk for extended, often considered too long, periods of time, garnering the nickname “Mr. Blah Blah” among leftist newspapers.10 He placed third in the 1970 election.
Jorge Alessandri
Jorge Eduardo Alessandri Rodríguez (1896-1986) was a conservative Chilean politician. He was an independent in both the 1958 and 1970 elections, with both elections going to runoff between him and Salvador Allende.11 A major factor in his 1970 campaign was returning to normalcy after the relatively radical politics of the Frei administration. He was the ideal winner for the United States in 1970 given the lack of viability of the Christian Democrats.
Executive Oversight of Covert Activity
Throughout the 1958 – 1970 period the committee that was tasked with performing executive oversight of covert activities changed numerous times, and numerous of them appear in the primary sources used in this project. All of them were under the umbrella of the National Security council. The Operations Coordinating Board was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, coexisting for a time with the 5412 Committee, also known as the Special Group, beginning in 1955 until the OCB was shut down (date unclear).12 Lyndon B. Johnson renamed the Special Group to the 303 Committee. Under Nixon the 303 committee became the 40 committee in early 1970, and was made in such a way that Nixon and Kissinger could bypass it.13 It has been replaced numerous times since.
1.”Chile.” In The Columbia Encyclopedia, by Paul Lagasse, and Columbia University. 8th ed. Columbia University Press, 2018. https://wooster.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/chile/0?institutionId=4607.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Chile, BCN Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de. “Antonio Raúl Zamorano Herrera. Reseñas Biográficas Parlamentarias.” Text. bcn.cl, 2020. https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Antonio_Raúl_Zamorano_Herrera.
5. https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Eduardo_Frei_Montalva
6. Leonard, Thomas M. “Frei, Eduardo.” In Latin American History and Culture: Encyclopedia of Modern Latin America (1900 to the Present), by Thomas M. Leonard. Facts On File, 2017. https://wooster.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofmodern/frei_eduardo/0?institutionId=4607
7. Ibid.
8. Chile, BCN Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de. “Radomiro Tomic Romero. Reseñas Biográficas Parlamentarias.” Text. bcn.cl, 2020. https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_parlamentarias/wiki/Radomiro_Tomic_Romero.
9. Ibid.
10. WILLIAM M CARLEY Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal. ” Latin Trouble Spot: A Communist may Win the Presidency of Chile.” Wall Street Journal (1923-), Aug 13, 1970. https://wooster.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/latin-trouble-spot/docview/133519691/se-2?accountid=15131.
11. Chile, BCN Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de. “Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez. Presidentes de La República En El Congreso Nacional.” Text. bcn.cl, 2020. https://www.bcn.cl/historiapolitica/resenas_biograficas/wiki/Jorge_Alessandri_Rodríguez.
12. KLEINMAN, STEVEN M. “Forty Committee.” In Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence, by Rodney P. Carlisle. Routledge, 2005. https://wooster.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sharpint/forty_committee/0?institutionId=4607
13. Ibid.
