Grant Larsen
U.S. Intervention in other countries has happened from the founding of the country from at least 1803 and onwards , and the majority of them have been happening since 1950, around the beginning of the Cold War. Many of these interventions in the Cold War were about opposing Communism, while there were financial or economic incentives as well. Studying U.S. intervention involved with the overthrow of the popular government in Chile in the 1970s, patterns of how U.S. interventions are discussed through secondary sources, as well as how coups can be framed with certain information being used or withheld to aid arguments.
The two secondary sources that will be used for comparing the incursion in Chile are The Untold History of the United States, by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, and Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them), by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec. Both talk about the Chile intervention, and are vastly different in what they say and teach about Chile, their leaders, and the U.S.’s involvement.
Posobiec does not talk about the Chile intervention for long, only going over some details of the coup in about three pages. In fact, Posobiec does not even discuss or report on the CIA or any of America’s actions in supporting a coup against Salvador Allende. Posobiec frames Allende as a Marxist, and highlights his ties to the USSR, as well as saying Allende stole from businesses and was overthrowing Chile’s constitution. Posobiec uses this to show how the coup against him was the people’s and army’s responsibility, and that General Augusto Pinochet took over power and would later peacefully pass it on. Pinochet saved the country from communism, as Posobiec says, “Wherever Pinochet was, there was no communism.” Posobiec’s silence on U.S. involvement means more than what he tells, framing the story as a country who fought against socialism by itself, rather than a large and influential part of the country who was being influenced by the United States to go against their elected leader. Posobiec’s right-wing ideology lends itself to this simplified view, framing the coup as just and even heroic, passing over the people executed and the large-scale problems that happened after the coup.
In contrast, Stone takes a much deeper dive into the history of Allende, focusing on his political history, and how the CIA had already spent money to make sure Allende’s predecessor, Eduardo Frei, get elected over Allende back in 1958. Under Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, the CIA continued to run against Allende, putting economic strain on Chile and inciting the military specifically to rise up and take over. While Stone does mention Chile was the leading market for copper, placing it as a potential reason for U.S. involvement, Kissinger’s reasoning for getting involved was, “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people.” There were attempts by the CIA to push propaganda against Chile through Time magazine, but that was not backed by many readers at the time. The CIA backed the coup, and General Pinochet took over after Allende’s suicide. The economy continued to worsen under Pinochet, which the CIA also reported on. Pinochet also killed thousands of people, and jailed many more who opposed him. Stone’s ideology does influence him in his characterizations of Kissinger, but Stone cites a great many sources to show how the CIA backed Pinochet and the army to overthrow Allendale.
The U.S. intervention in Chile reports back a war on communism, and a holding away of history and details. According to the economic reports that Kissinger had before the intervention, there was no real reason to get involved, Kissinger himself putting it as no threat beyond a potential domino that leads to further communism from South America. Posobiec’s silence on U.S. involvement also means a lot, showing the issues and misinformation that can come from secondary sources when it comes to matters about U.S. intervention. But through Stone’s work, he is able to make the case of the U.S. destabilizing governments they did not need to get involved with, or at least should not have for the sake of the people and economy.
This comparison teaches us how secondary sources can be framed by ideology in the case of Posobiec, ignoring many of the facts to frame a simplified story of a coup, rather than the U.S.’s involvement in Chile’s affairs. Comparing Posobiec to Stone also shows how history can be used to dim or hide the CIA’s actions, for while the information of their involvement is publicly available, it can be easy to skip over or cover up to the public, improving how the U.S. is seen by hiding their more sinister and unneeded actions in foreign affairs. It is important to discuss these things, so that people can see what has happened in the past, and to look at what the U.S. government is capable and likely able to still do now, as well as how they can use public memory to hide or obviate things that have happened until they have to release files until much later.
Posobiec, Jack, and Joshua Lisec. Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Defeat Them). New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, 2024.
Stone, Oliver,and Peter J. Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. New York, NY: Gallery Books, 2012.
Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973 By Peter Kornblu https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
The Pinochet Regime Declassified DINA: “A Gestapo-Type Police Force” in Chile https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-06-18/pinochet-regime-declassified-dina-gestapo-type-police-force-chile
CIA Cover-Up on Chile https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2016-09-09/cia-cover-chile
Chile: Economic Vulnerability of the Pinochet Regime
FIRST OF THREE REPORTS ON THE CIA CHILEAN INTERVENTION https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020042-7.pdf
Leave a Reply