Backyard Empire: The U.S. in Latin America · Episode 14 of 14 · 42 min
How ITT Tried to Buy a Coup: Telephones, Electricity, and the Fall of Allende
Foreign companies owned the telephone systems and power grids that Latin American countries needed to function. International Telephone & Telegraph and American & Foreign Power charged high rates and resisted local control until governments began nationalizing them. When Allende moved against ITT in Chile, the company offered the CIA a reported million dollars and pushed to wreck the economy, though it was an eager instigator rather than the puppet-master.
Who's who
- Harold GeneenITT chairman who drove the company's anti-Allende campaign
- John McConeITT board member and ex-CIA director who took ITT's plan to Washington
- Salvador Allende+1 more episodeChilean president who moved to nationalize ITT's phone company
- William BroeCIA officer who met with ITT executives
- Sosthenes BehnFounder of ITT
- Frank ChurchSenator whose subcommittee exposed ITT's role
- Henry Kissinger+1 more episodeNational Security Advisor to whom the ITT plan was carried
- Jack AndersonColumnist who published the leaked ITT memos
Where it happens
- Chile+2 more episodesITT's phone company targeted for nationalization by Allende
- Cuba+2 more episodesITT phones and American & Foreign Power electricity nationalized
Timeline
- 1920ITT founded
- 1923American & Foreign Power organized to own utilities abroad
- 1959-1960Cuban Revolution nationalizes ITT and AFP holdings
- September 4, 1970Allende wins Chile's election
- March 1972Jack Anderson publishes leaked ITT memos
- 1973Senate subcommittee holds hearings on ITT and Chile
Still debated
How much ITT's offered money actually did is uncertain. The record shows ITT offered funds and urged destabilization, but the CIA ran its own operations and rejected some ITT proposals.