When Salvador Allende became the president of Chile in 1970, his leftist government began instituting socialist reforms, and Chile's relationship with the United States cooled. The Nixon White House was unhappy with Allende's position as a champion of developing nations and socialist causes, a position that required opening diplomatic relations with Cuba, China, North Korea, and North Vietnam. The United States cut off all aid to Chile, except for aid to military, which eventually overthrew the Allende government with Nixon's blessing. The coup leader, General Augusto Pinochet, went on to preside over one of the most murderous and criminal regimes of the Twentieth Century.

From our strained Cold War relations and the Allende assassination to current democratic and economic development, The United States and Chile deftly traces the path of the relationship from early partners, through tense Cold War stand-offs, to the slowly warming relations of the present. The authors include information on General Augusto Pinochet's human rights violations, his current prosecution for them, and the United States complicity in bringing him to Power.

Chile only just now recovering from decades of political instability and government abuses and this volume provides a thorough look back, and an informed vision of the future.