ITT PLEDGED MILLIONS TO STOP ALLENDE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030100-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 100
• Publication Date: March 22, 1972
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09TOO207RO01000030100-1
The Washington Merry-Go-Round THE WASHINGTON POST Y IWsdar, t[ sll!m C23
ITT :Pledged Millions to Stop Allende
By Jack Anderson
International Telephone and
Telegraph's (ITT) drive to
block the 1970 election of left-
ist Chilean President Salvador
Allende included an offer to'
the White House to "assist fi-
nancially in'sums up to seven
figures."
The offer to spend millions
was only one of a series of
high-level conversations ITT
had with the U.S. government
in its eleventh-hour pressure
campaign to stop Allende.
The huge international' con-
glomerate was trying to keep
a Marxist government under
Allende from seizing its Chil-
ean investments, which included
00 per cent control of the Chil.
can, telephone company.
The company's effort, and
its fervent hopes for a military
coup, are spelled out in a re-
markable set of secret docu-
ments from ITT's Washington
office. We got the papers de-
spite the wholesale shredding
of files, which the company
has admitted took place in the
Washington office Feb. 24 in
an attempt to keep "embar-
rassing" documents out of our
hands.
The papers show that offi-
cials at the White House, State
Department and Central Intel-
ligence Agency (CIA), were
approached by ITT. The Amer.
ican ambassador in Chile was
visited. Attorney General
John Mitchell was even but-
tonholed at a wedding recep-
tiou by a zealous ITT man.
The documents indicate the
company got a generally po-
lite but cool reception from
the White House and State
Department, although Edward
Korry, ambassador to Chile, is
reported to have been mili-
tantly anti-Allende and
friendly to ITT's cause.
Even more friendly, however,
was the CIA's William V.
Broe, who was then director
of the Latin American division
of Clandestine Services.
CIA-IIT Meeting
Bros is reported to have
personally visited ITT Vice
President E. J. Gerrity, Jr., in
his New York office to urge
ITT to join in a scheme to
plunge the Chilean economy
into chaos and thus bring
about a military uprising that
would keep Allende out of
power.
Although there Is strong evi-
dence in the documents that
the, company was taking steps
to help the CIA foment trouble
for Allende, the Broe plan
was too wild even for ITT to
accept.
One of the men doing the
talking for ITT in the Chile af-
fair was J.D. (Jack) Neal of
the Washington office. He re-
ported in a Sept. 14, 1970,
memorandum on his conversa-
tion with Kissinger's office.
"I told (them) Mr. Geneen
(ITT President Harold Ge-
neen) Is willing to come to
Washington to discuss ITT's
interest and that we are pre-
pared to assist financially in
sums up to seven figures," the
memo says.
"I said Mr. Geneen's con-
cern is not one of 'after the
barn door has been locked,'
but that all along we have
feared the Allende victory and
have been trying unsuccess-
fully to get other American
companies aroused over the
fate of their investments, and
join us in pre-election efforts .
"Early Saturday morning, I
telephoned Assistant Secre-
tary of State for Latin Ameri-
can Affairs, Charles (Chuck)
A. Meyer, at his office. I re-
peated the same rundown ...
"I went to a wedding recep-
tion at the Korean Embassy
late Saturday. I ran into Attor-
ney General Mitchell; so de-
cided to mention Chile just in
case the subject reached him
in a cabinet meeting or other-
wise.
"Mr. Mitchell mentioned
Mr. Geneen's recent visit with
him. He said he could under-
stand Mr. Geneen's concern
over ITT's Chile Investment."
ITT Intelligence Report
Three days later, ITT's
Gerrity got an on-the-scene In-
telligence report from two
company men In Latin Amer-
ica. They reported efforts to
persuade lame-duck Chilean
President Eduardo Frei to
take a' stronger hand in the
campaign against Allende.
15) Ambassador Edward Kaap
finally received a message
from the State Department
giving him the green light to
move in the name of President
Nixon," the message said.
"At this stage the key to
whether we have a solution or
a disaster is Frei--and how
much pressure the U.S. and
the anti-Communist movement
in Chile can bring to bear
upon him in the next couple
of weeks ...
"(Ambassador Korry) has
never let up on Frei, to the
point of telling him how to
'put his pants on.'
"The anti-Allende effort
more than likely will require
some outside financial support
... We have pledged our sup?
port if needed."
Twelve days later, Gerrity
sent Geneen a telex describing
a meeting in his office with
the CIA's Broe, who outlined a
five-point economic plan tore:
duce the Chilean economy to
chaos.
"I was told that of all the
companies Involved, ours
alone had been responsive and
understood the problem. The
visitor (Broe) added that
money was no problem," Gerr-
ity said.
By Oct. 16, eight days before
Allende's election was to be
voted on by the Chilean Parlia -
ment, ITT was pinning its
waning- hopes on a military
coup led by former Brigadier
General Roberto Viaux.
01Y79. unit" P"ft" asadi.Us
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP09TOO207RO01000030100-1