Reactions from the American press toward the regime of Salvador Allende

In September, 1970, a Marxist, Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile. It was the purpose of this thesis to review the treatment of the Allende regime by the American press. Because so much had been written about Allende and his government, this paper discussed three key events during his administration; the election of Allende, Allende’s policies of nationalization, and the overthrow of the Allende government. This thesis did not attempt to be a study of Salvador Allende, nor was it a study of his government. Omitted from this paper were the activities of various terrorist groups, congressional and municipal elections and the ITT scandal and its related consequences. In a study such as this, it would have been practically impossible to reflect the opinion of every newspaper and news magazine in the United States. As a result, selections from only the following newspapers were examined: the Washington Post, New York Times, Denver Post, and Chicago Tribune. These newspapers were chosen because they represented a wide geographical area, and because they commented frequently on the Chilean situation. In addition, several news magazines were thoroughly examined. Included among these were U. S. News and World Report. Time, Newsweek, and The Nation. These were the only American news magazines which gave a continual account of the events in Chile