Legacy in American Foreign Policy
The apparent success of the Iranian Coup gave the American government the necessary validation to continue overthrowing potentially communist foreign governments, even if democratically elected.
"Buoyed by these triumphs, the U.S. became more aggressive. America interpreted the most innocuous developments as further evidence that the Soviet Union was about to encircle the world."
-Ronald Kessler, Inside the CIA
Support of Oppressive Undemocratic Leaders
"In containing communism... if it meant supporting some pretty unsavory characters we went ahead and did that." |
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The Guatemalan Coup
The Guatemalan coup was a success in that it overthrew a leftist government, but a failure in that it triggered a 30 year civil war resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
"Arbenz's toleration for known Communists made him at best a fellow traveler, and at worst a Communist himself." |
Jacobo Arbenz [PBWorks]
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Televised address by John Foster Dulles on Guatemala following the coup, 1954
[Youtube] |
"Gloriosa Victoria" by Diego Rivera, depicting the Dulles brothers and Eisenhower around corpses of victims of the Guatemalan coup [New York Times]
Chilean Coup
Memorandum entitled "Genesis of Operation FUBELT" from September, 1970. Click here for the full document.
"The actions that President Richard Nixon and his administration took against Salvador Allende and Chile were directly related to, or derived from, policies and actions of his predecessors."
-David G. Huggins, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Venezuelan Coup - Post Cold War
In 2002 the US allegedly knew about and helped support a coup that saw publicly supported leader Hugo Chavez ousted for a two day period.
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Hugo Chavez [The Times]
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