Allende elected in Chile

September 4, 1970

Salvador Allende, a Marxist physician, won a narrow plurality in the Chilean presidential election, becoming the first Marxist leader elected through democratic means in the Americas. He promised a peaceful road to socialism, nationalized the copper mines, and quickly made enemies in Washington and among Chile's oligarchs. Three years later he would be dead in the presidential palace, and Chile would be under military rule.