296. Editorial Note

On April 18, 1972, Chile expropriated International Telephone and Telegraph’s (ITT) assets, valued at approximately $170 million. This took place following a string of revelations by Washington Post columnist Jack Anderson, beginning on March 21, concerning ITT’s attempts to influence Chilean politics in the tumultuous period between September and November 1970. (“Memos Bare ITT Try for Chile Coup,” New York Times, March 21, 1972, p. B13) Documentation on U.S. reaction to the ITT expropriation is in National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, INCO 15–2; specifically telegram 1829 from Santiago, April 18, and telegrams 2361 and 2362, both May 12. Regarding ITT’s contacts with CIA officials, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. E–16, Documents on Chile, 1969–1973, Document 104.

Beginning in March 1972, the U.S. Senate, under the chairmanship of Idaho Democrat Frank Church, investigated ITT’s activities in the Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Among the witnesses called to testify by the Subcommittee was Ambassador Edward Korry whose term as Ambassador to Chile had ended in October 1971. In a March 23, 1972, Oval Office conversation about Korry’s testimony, Ziegler stated that “Korry said that he had received instructions to do anything short of a Dominican type [of operation].” “He was. He was instructed to,” Nixon explained. “But he just failed, the son of a bitch. That is his main problem. He should have kept Allende from getting in.” (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Conversation 22–6)