> "Allende's government is likely to move along lines that will make it very
> difficult to marshal international or hemispheric censure of him -- he is
> most likely to appear as an 'independent' socialist country, rather than a
> Soviet satellite or 'Communist Government.'"
So Nixon et al. thought it would be difficult to muster censure of Allende's government. That doesn't mean they thought it would be a good one for Chileans.
> "Allende was elected legally...[and] has legitimacy in the eyes of
Chileans
> and most of the world."
Legal and legitimate doesn't equal good for Chileans. I'd imagine that many folks in the Nixon administration sincerely believed that the illegal and illegimate government they foisted on the Chilieans was actually better for them. I'm sure none of them thought Allende's government would be particularly good for them.
> Allende "has an admittedly profound anti-US and anti-capitalist
bias....His
> policies are bound to constitute serious problems for us if he has any
> degree of ability to implement them."
Ability to implement socialist policies (at least in the minds of Nixon et al.) doesn't equal good for Chileans.
> "Allende and the forces that have come to power with him do have the
skill,
> the means, and the capacity to maintain and consolidate themselves in
> power."
Ability to stay in power doesn't equal good for Chileans.
> All this "poses some very painful dilemmas for us....We are strongly on
> record in support of self-determination and of free election....On the
other
> hand, our failure to react to this situation risks being perceived in
Latin
> America and in Europe as indifference or impotence in the face of clearly
> adverse developments in a region long considered our sphere of influence."
>
> "The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would
> surely have an impact on -- and even precedent value for -- other parts of
> the world....Chile would probably become a...source of disruption in the
> hemisphere."
No need to repeat myself again.
I'd imagine people in the US government wrote very similar memos during, say, the rise of the Ayatollah in Iran. No one would suggest that they were worried about the "threat of a good example" that would be posed by an Islamic dictatorship. All the memo shows is something everyone here (yours truly included) already knew: Nixon et al. didn't particularly care about legitimacy or legality.
-- Luke