Declassified Looks
Salvador Allende's Chile in U.S. Documents (1969-1973)

In September 1974, President Gerald R. Ford, anticipating the political storm ahead, acknowledged the role the U.S. government had played in the events leading up to the 1973 coup in Chile and the establishment of the Pinochet regime. He stated that the activity of democratic forces had been supported. His declaration was part of a wave of political upheaval in Washington, where, among other things, the issue of Chile spurred intense self-criticism, the echoes of which remain in public life and in political and academic debate. Was Washington responsible or the fundamental actor in the fall of the Popular Unity government? Or was it one of many external actors involved in an internal Chilean process that had deep roots in its history and political culture, its own passions? The last word has not been said.