Nixon's Presidency

Quiz Active

Which best explains US concerns regarding Chile

arding Chile

O Nive

Nixon's first term?

The United States pressured Chile to discourage it from joining the space race.

The Unites States pressured Chile's Marxists out of fear of a Communist revolution.

The United States pressured Chile to participate in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

The United States pressured Chile into negotiations through the use of détente.

The Unites States pressured Chile's Marxists out of fear of a Communist revolution.

Explanation:

Salvador Allende, a self-described socialist, who had close ties with the Cuban government of Fidel Castro, became president of Chile in 1970.

This raised the alarms in the Nixon Administration because they believed that a second communist/socialist government in Latin American was untolerable.

For this reason, the Nixon Administration ordered the CIA to ally with the Chilean opposition, with the goal of weakening the Allende government.

Nixon was succesful because in 1973, a military colonel, named Augusto Pinochet, launched a coup d'etat that deposed Allende (Allende killed himself). Pinochet became a dictator, supported by the United States, for almost two decades.