Essay about Understanding Kissinger’s Actions Toward Chile

2."Chile." Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 24 Oct, 20093.CBC News. "Augusto Pinochet: Timeline." 11 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. .

In Empire’s Workshop, Greg Grandin argues that the United States engineered a destructive domestic fusion of religious fundamentalism, hawkish neoconservatism, and nationalism - to justify it’s engagement in a jingoistic, self-serving foreign policy in Latin America. Furthermore, his work details the preemptive clash against perceived communist elements, and places the ideological disagreements regarding private-property, as the primary mover in US actions. By examining the Guatemalan coup of 1954, which Grandin describes as the Central Intelligence Agency’s “first full-scale covert operation” in Latin America, we can assess the prototypical reasoning behind US intervention. Moreover, the thorough assessment of the motivations of American

As was laid out in the previous section, the United-States always had a ‘hegemonic presumption’, the conception that Latin America was inferior, a supposition that gave the right to Washington to intervene in the region’s political and economic affairs (LeoGrande, 2007:384). This second chapter will explore how the U.S. intervened in Latin America, more specifically after the World War II. Indeed, the U.S. benefitted greatly from the aftermath of the war. A subsection will be dedicated to the Pink Tide in Latin America, with a focus on the U.S. foreign policy under President GW Bush and President Obama. The overthrown Presidents of Honduras and Paraguay were part of this movement and their outset signals a reversal in the region.

While the Cold War does not mark a significant distinction from US involvement in Latin America pre-Cold War, the inclusion of ideology in US foreign policy decisions did mark a change in attitudes and focus. While US policy can be described as rational to a certain point, the Cuban dilemma caused an irrational fear in US foreign policy makers to avoid a second-Cuba. The fear of a “second Cuba” can be seen in the various interventions by the US in Latin America during this period.

As much as the United States might like to dismiss it, other nations do exist. Since our founding as a nation, we have struggled with foreign policy initiatives. George Washington, our first president, decided that isolationism would protect America. And while Americans followed Washington’s philosophy for decades, foreign policy still leaked through the cracks. The Monroe doctrine radically shifted America isolationism from complete dissociation to selective dissociation. Overall, America’s foreign goals have shifted further outward as the years went on. Although many presidents boast adroit foreign policies, Richard Nixon’s foreign policy deserves a larger spotlight. Although he mired his career in a lackluster domestic policy and the

This Extended Essay will examine how American domestic politics during the Nixon Administration influenced the role of the U.S and more specifically the C.I.A in their role in the Chilean coup of 1973. Throughout this paper connections will be drawn between various corporations which had a significant stake in Chile’s industry and economy before the coup occurred and their subsequent relationships with different members of the Nixon Administration or those in places of power such as the director of the C.I.A. This paper will document just how much was at stake for various companies, and what they stood to gain or lose from a significant regime change. Furthermore, just how the C.I.A and these American corporations waged an economic war on Chile’s economy will be examined. In addition, this paper will provide an analysis on just who stood to gain the most from a regime change, the American people winning a war against communism, or the multinational corporations whose businesses in Chile could be potentially nationalized. This paper will also examine the interdepartamental differences and rifts inside the Nixon Administration itself, and help clarify whether or not these differences were based upon an ideological difference or because of their roles in rival corporations. Overall this paper will provide a broad look at just how much these large multinational corporations had an affect upon the Nixon Administration, and how much an ideological sense of responsibility was

The investigation, which evaluates the tactics used by the CIA and of the 40 committee, delves into how the president of Chile, Salvador Allende, was refrained from gaining political power and the tactics used to destabilize the government after his election in 1970, this evaluation will try to answer the question: To what extent was the involvement of the United States government and the CIA responsible for the downfall of Salvador Allende?

The US irrevocably changed the history of Chile through its intervention in the 1970’s. The intervention destroyed decade’s worth of potential development in Chile (not to mention the deaths of thousands due to installing a murderous dictator), to keep communism out of the Chile, and protect United States business interests. The United States’ interest in a potential intervention in Chile began in 1970, the year Salvador Allende was elected the Chilean President. Allende was a leftist candidate from the Socialist Party of Chile whom Nixon suspected of potentially turning communist. Allende made critical remarks about the United States’ involvement in Latin America, especially their failed invasion of Cuba, the Bay of Pigs. This, combined with

The Cold War period represented a breaking point for real and potential threats against the US hegemony in Latin America. The US and the Soviet Union had a power struggle for almost all the last half of the twentieth century, and even if the political and military tension was between those two blocks, the poor relationship’s collateral damage reached the rest of countries in the American continent with the anti-communism US foreign policy.

There are many similarities of right-wing and left-wing authoritarian regimes in Latin America and Cuba. However, for this essay I will focus on the similarities within abuses and the differences regarding the United States’ support.

The CIA used Chilean media to perpetuate a smear campaign against Allende and encouraged a coup against the communist government that made the conditions ripe for a coup. After the coup, General Pinochet was a close U.S. ally up until the Carter administration. President Carter, who made human rights as the driving force behind his foreign policy, distanced himself from Pinochet because of alleged human rights violations conducted by Pinochet’s regime.

Pinochet was put into power . This is a perfect example of how the US foreign policy replaced genuine democracy with dictatorship for their own benefit, and again, supposedly in the name of National Security. Latin America was a victim of US foreign policy and corporate greed.

This responsibility is awarded a tremendous amount of prestige by the general public, but it carries with it the enormous burden of making the difficult decisions when they are necessary. The decades of the mid-20th century are amongst some of the most influential in history in terms of political, social, and economic effects on later decades. It was during a period of less than ten years that Henry A. Kissinger occupied a government office in Washington D.C. and so greatly influenced the foreign policy of not just President Nixon, but all Presidents and elected officials to come that were involved in foreign affairs. The foreign policy of the United States was under the watchful, and some would say maniacal supervision, of Kissinger for a

The investigation assesses the significant contribution of the United States, with a general focus on the CIA, to Salvador Allende’s political downfall. To adequately evaluate the involvement of the United States and the CIA, this investigation emphasizes the multiple measures and operations taken through distinctive cases of economic plots, operations track 1 and 2, as well as the infiltration into Chilean political and military factions. This investigation strives to answer the question: How did the United States and the CIA significantly contribute to the political downfall of Salvador Allende?

In contrast Pinchot used his power to install a military dictatorship, controlling the population and introducing a new economic structure, while also reversing the changes Allende inforced. Under Pinochet’s rule, the growth brought on by free-market reforms did not improve the standard living among Chile’s lower class (pinochet,1973). Whereas under Allende the majority of the population, were beginning to experience a new social economic order where the lives for ordinary people were improving. The measures of Pinochet’s economic success are presented to us via higher GDP and decreased inflation, which tells us nothing about non-economic factors such as literacy rate, life expectancy or public health. Higher GDP does not mean an increase of living standards and quality of life; therefore policies aimed at maximising GDP are not pertinent . Using ambiguous terms such as ‘political stability’ and ‘economic improvement’ it can be acknowledged that Pinochet brought about some improvements. However, the repression and human rights violations, in my opinion reveal that any successes are ineffective, as they have no real positive impact on the lives of the majority. Chile is now being described as the most unequal country. The Pinochet government has made the country more unstable, between those who justify the dictatorship and those who trust in