7 notable US-backed regime changes since WWII
4. Salvador Allende (Chile) — 1973
In October 1970, Salvador Allende was elected president of Chile and sworn into office the following month, despite publicly stated U.S. concerns about his socialist leanings.
Allende’s policies of nationalizing various industries and other proposed reforms led to persistent economic uncertainty, widespread protests and strikes and a failed military coup.
On Sept. 11, 1973, the U.S. government backed a Chilean military coup that successfully overthrew Allende and installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet as dictator, who would reign for 17 years.
In addition to bringing to power a regime that would disappear around 3,000 individuals, the coup is credited by some with galvanizing human rights activism in the U.S.
“[There was] a real sense of apprehension about presidential power in particular and the government more generally,” said historian Vanessa Walker to NPR in 2023.
“Cold War paradigms of fighting communism wherever you meet it are really starting to lose credibility in light of the Vietnam War. And so when Chile happens and then the subsequent reports of U.S. involvement in Chile come out, it really calls into question a lot of the fundamental premises of U.S. foreign policy for many people.”
