SALVADOR ALLENDE (1974)

Allende, born into an upper middle class family, received his medical degree in 1932 from the University of Chile, where he was a Marxist activist.


He participated in the founding (1933) of Chile´s Socialist Party. After election to the Chamber of Deputies in 1937, he served (1939-42) as minister of health in the liberal leftist coalition of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda. Allende won the first of his four elections to the Senate in 1945.


He ran for the presidency for the first time in 1952 but was temporarily expelled from the Socialist Party for accepting the support of the outlawed Communists; he placed last in a four-man race. He ran again in 1958 -with Socialist backing, as well as the support of the then-legal Communists- and was a close second to the Conservative-Liberal candidate, Jorge Alessandri.


Again with the same support he was decisively defeated (1964) by Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei. For his succesful 1970 campaign Allende ran as the candidate of Popular Unity, a bloc of Socialists, Communists, Radicals, and some dissident Christian Democrats, leading in a threesided race with 36.3 percent of the vote. Because he lacked a popular majority, however, his election had to be confirmed by Congress, in which there was a strong opposition from the right. Nevertheless, it was confirmed on Oct. 24, 1970, after he had guaranteed support to 10 libertarian constitutional amendments demanded by the Christian Democrats.


Inaugurated Nov. 3, 1970, Allende began to restructure Chilean society along Socialist lines. He nationalized several industries and with a constitutional amendment established Chile´s right to appropriate its mineral resources, with considerable discretion over compensation. His government took over large estates for peasant cooperatives and favoured large wage increases in industry. Lacking support for outright nationalization, he gained control over banking by purchasing stock with government bonds.


Allende established relations with two Communist governments, the People´s Republic of China and Cuba. Relations with the U.S. were strained by the conflicting interests of U.S. investment and Allende´s Socialism. Two years after taking office he faced soaring inflation and opposition from the middle class. His government was overthrown by a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973. He died, reportedly by his own hand, as troops closed in on the Presidential palace. A four-man military junta took over the government.