FROM A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER IN CHILE, 1963: 'WE WERE HAD'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400220001-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 19, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 30, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

.7i`-_ 13'i +ZT~ ~''t'.~?f? ~T STR~TE`_.
tine ni;ht in 196?, deep in southernCl~.ile a ..~
small . group of Peace Cor_os' 1 olunteers~-
) rnyself : included-sat 'net ously around .`. a
! crickiing old radio in an ill-heated Patago'ni--
`-`'an,boarding house. r ''
had gathered to listen ta:the :results of .{
the Chilean presidential contest between. Sal. i
-.,ador:Allende;.the Com .tuust,;and Eduardo-
14'zei, t'ne.Christians.Democrat+:Vetivere;wor:
xied Somehow, our little: band 'of idealistic:
world-saver had become'a caw-pal, r
t sue: ~?
air act since ourarrival,th year:before
w&.' ad. been drawn into an unwilling, butt.
stgnifieant,~ role in a? G: e`s-campaign-. For:
mo-aths he-had laced his speeches with den
unciatioris of Peace Coy s spies." A~+~zat if he
won? . only half- . p=ungzy;,'-We- wondered
ivhethei we should f leer i am rely to' Ar-?
ge tina or wait for the, Cc unists to Id us
ouE -":
We might have bee*i s_zmd all that worry
if we: had .known :what t;:e- Senate Intel-~ -
hgence `Committee -'. revea.J ed . earlier-.. this
orth-that the Cent-al Intelligence Agency
spent 3" million - ....ercan. dollars to insure
elec`ion ~l o ing for
4z F refs vic.tory in that
tli4 difference in. _rcnu?a on between the, two
... I.- __- ;valen: to a;
rte ..
Ignite 1 States, and it. was only, the beginning
: a decade- cf _L e: ca i i nfiltrat art' into
oz
,
- But, of course, :we didn't lanow: in. 1964 we
still believed the raa-irn that had been reiter
attd throughout. our Puce Corps training:
?-rencans mist -stay out. of Chile's political
`,.process - Such' involvement , ;-We-were told,
would be dangerous anil counterproductive. _
Perhaps. our.7 gness:. to; accept .that
a-:warning--and to pi-e;ume that?4it reflected an
across-the-board -State'-Department policy
Drily proved our . ingenuousness.'But"then, we.-,t;
tainbassadors of 'Camelot were' probably the '.
last generation of young people to hold an or
thodox faith in xnerfcan govei;.ment_
Most ofthe volunteers with me that night:.
wer&xnembers of the fence-straddling class of .
1963, neither creatures of the bland 1950s nor. ; '!
'.passionate dissenters. of. the ?1960s:' MSy. awn'
-background was notatypical.: Fresh from the.-
=Young Republican Club.. at:USC, edacated i:t"
,'.the same conservative;-.eiivironment.as,my:.
,classmates Dwight, Chapin and Donald Sea=
retti, I felt that even joining the Peace Corps .
:was vap ely radical.
,The source of my.new-found -activism was
P.ot outrage, but rathA1*rdrlrea
rtisrn. - My, real .motivation was the sort of
youthful sympathy for the oppressed 'and -ex-
-,,.ce...r ,,,ti;,.h ~r that. tknp, inrnired'HUA-:I
`lDP88-01315R00040022000c~8 e_11 c 4e C 5.
But we early Peace.Corps voluntee s'd fw
.fered from. those other activists who. b'ios-- ?
sorned in the warm spring of John Kennedy's
administration and flowered in the hot um:
.mint of Lyndon Johnson's.`--We never-really
put'ourseives on the l4ne,.riever risked goin;-
=to' jailor being shot at_ by-national b ards-
:.inen. We were. the darlings of the-Democrats,',
'in the eyes o? the right, we were harmless (if
i iisguided) dreamer.
Our crusade was not to change American
society but to promnote.it. There was evert
something typically American about the con-
,tract-that set the. terms-of our sacrifice Yle
;would. serve , precisely. two. years,. with. free . -i
medical care included Radicals eve were not.
Sti11, leftist'-critics"--.'Were mistaken: when.
`they claimed we had simnly-found a swum {
gam-thank you-ma'am way.: of eashi ou i
-liberal guilt. In that innocent-year of-1963
-had no real political consciences, just the- ear--
nestnesand simplicity of heart that r 2_rl4 us-
so-well suitedto the Peace Corps. We bo rd-.4
?:.ed the Panac a jet to Chile believing that we'
,represented. not only the resources but also
.:the good intentions of our government.
The Chilean people generally received us
well. They taught us to appreciate life at a'-
different. pace, and . than fully accept d.
whatever the had to offer: - V e .took only
small steps, setting up a credit union here, a
: cooperative nurseryschool there.
Then;one-day in 7.96?",news came over our;
scratchy, radios- that American troops. had
landed in the Dominican-.Republic. ?:Oru'.
it an friends began to look at us with they
justifiable paranoia- that 'unites all Latin
yiiziericans in the face-of Yenqui power. They
cursed us for teasing the nianto l eiievirt that
the'!* Peace Corps truly represented American
?'attitudesa` ~,_ ... - ... >. _ {
- ;?'? -a . , f Y t. ... .. a - _ rte}