Jorge Alessandri

Jorge Alessandri, a conservative, won the Chilean presidential election of 1958, finishing less than three percentage points ahead of Salvador Allende; neither had a majority, and the Congress chose Alessandri. Had Allende received the 3.3 percent that went to a leftist priest, he would have won. Alessandri's government lost popularity during its term.¹

The 1970 Election

Alessandri ran again in 1970 against Allende and the Christian Democrat Radomiro Tomic. On March 25, 1970, the 40 Committee approved a joint embassy and CIA "spoiling" operation against Allende; "direct support was not furnished to either of his opponents." In July a CIA representative in Santiago told representatives of ITT that Alessandri could use financial assistance and suggested an individual who could serve as a secure channel. ITT's chairman, Harold Geneen, offered to make 1 million dollars available to the agency; the CIA refused to transmit ITT money but advised the company on how to pass it. Some 350,000 dollars of ITT money reached Alessandri during the campaign, 250,000 to the campaign and 100,000 to the National Party, and other American businesses gave about 350,000 more. In the CIA's propaganda campaign, sign-painting teams were instructed to paint "su paredón," your wall, on 2,000 walls, evoking communist firing squads.¹ At the election of September 4, Allende took 36.3 percent to Alessandri's 35.3, a margin of about 39,000 votes in three million.¹

The Frei Gambit

With no majority, the Congress was to choose between the two leaders. The plan pursued by the ambassador, Edward Korry, and the CIA's "Track I" was that the Congress would elect Alessandri, who would resign at once, allowing a new election in which the outgoing president, Eduardo Frei, could stand. On September 9, 1970, Alessandri announced that he would resign if elected. Korry cabled the State Department the next day that "Alessandri's statement on which I have worked since before the elections" had "set off a political storm," that it "was cleared with Frei beforehand," and that it carried the support of Senators Bulnes of the National Party and Durán of the Democratic Radicals; he called the scheme "a Rube Goldberg contraption," and reported that Deputy Silvia Alessandri had come to him that night to beg for visas for her family.² On September 14 the 40 Committee authorized a contingency fund of 250,000 dollars, to be handled by Korry, to swing congressional votes to Alessandri; the only proposal discussed, bribery of congressmen, was judged unworkable and the money was never spent. Frei refused to interfere, and on September 29 the committee agreed the gambit was dead.¹ The Congress confirmed Allende on October 24, 1970.¹