CHILE VENTURE WRONG, 60% OF U.S. BELIEVES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000020026-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: October 28, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09TOO207RO01000020026-5
v~vnvrd? 1LS11+U.~Z';
28 OCT 1974
Survey
.ale venture. * uwrong9
do' of U. S. believes
By Louis Harris
BY A 60 TO 18 per cent majority,
Americans feel it was "wrpng for the
United States to intervene in the inter-
nal affairs of Chile and to try to destabil-
ize .its government-
President -Ford acknowledged that
U. S. intervention did take place, altho
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ar-
gued it was to insure- the rights of
Chilean forces out of power and not to
overthrow the' Marxist regime of the
late president, Salvador Allende. Al-
lende died.in a violent military coup,
which overthrew his government a.
year ago.
In a cross-section of 1,500 people
participating last month in the Harris
Survey, a substantial majority, 83 to 7
per cent, agrees that "every country
should have the right to determine its
own government by itself, without out-
side interference from other countries."
TRADITIONALLY, the right of self-
determination has been a ground rule of
international law, protecting the rights
of smaller, weaker countries against the
encroachment and invasion of larger
powers.
But it is well known that in a \ti_orld
THE CHARGES of American Inter-
vention in the overthrow of the Allende
regime obviously have raised questions.
by Americans about our foreign intel-
ligence operations in general and the
CIA ? in particular. And it could poten-
tially cause a decline in confidence in
Kissinger here at home.
But at the present,. Kissinger is still
highly regarded.
of superpowers, all with substantial in- Participants in the nationwide surveys
were asked: "How would you rate the'
telligence networks, each major nation job Henry Kissinger is doing as secre-I
maintains extensive intelligence activi- tary of--State-excellent, pretty good,
ties in nearly every country of the world. President Ford sought to defend ony.fair, or poor?"
?
U. S. intelligence activities by citing the l se>>. . % may,
sums spent by Communist nations for Positive (good-excenentl 73 79 es
intelligence. Negative [only fair-Poor] 22 is 10
Not sure $ e S
By a narrow 43 to 39 per cent response, Even tho- Kissinger.l has slipped in
Americans are willing to accept the, public favor since- May, he-still com-
CIAs role - as `working inside others
countries to mands far more respect than most
try to strengthen those ele. public figures in_this year of dashed
meats friendly to the U. S. and to
weaken anti-U. S. forces." confidence in government.
The heart of the controversy over But regardless of Kissinger's achieve-
American intervention in Chile is how of meat Us U. S. ? and policy interventionin geonl, Chile `the ststan u1 ands
ds
to reconcile CIA operations designed toi condemned by Americans. The survey
aid pro-U. S. elements wittl the univer' asked:
sally -accepted rule of self-determina ,,Do you think it ryas right or sarong
tion. Cloaked in top secrecy, CLA opera, for the U. S. to intervene in the internal
tions normally remain unknown excepti affairs of Chile and to try to destabilize
to the highest officials of the agency,, its the Pentagon, the White House, and government?"
.
select congressional committees. Total
public
There were widespread reports of is %
CIA activity in the overthrow of the w ono 60
Allende government at the tine and Not sure 22
charges by-. pro-Allende elements that, Among those Americans who want
the coup was engineered by the CIA. their public officials to level with them
The CIA is particularly vulnerable to and keep, covert government activities
criticism these days because of unre- to a minimum, there is likely to be a
,solved charges of possible involvement 'growing demand for- full disclosure of
in Watergate related activities. the role of the CIA, particularly where
When asked to rate the job the CIA its activities might conflict with the
is doing "as the chief foreign intelli-l right of other nations to self-determina-
Secretary of state Kissinger's alleged
role in U. S. operations in Chile has .
reportedly stemmed from orders prig-'
inating with him as head of the 40
Committee, a supersecret group respon-
sible for America's covert intelligence,
matters. -
When asked if Kissinger's usefulness
woud be impaired if allegations of his
involvement in CIA activity in Chile
were true, 18 per cent of the respon
dents said it would "seriously damage"
his usefulness - as secretary of State,
and another 31 per cent said it would'.
"only partly damage" him. One in
three people said that even if a Kis-1
singer role in Chile were proven, it,
would not "damage., his influence at
all."
cent vote.
gence agency of the U. S. government,", tine.
the public gives it only a 42 to 31 per.
' 48
Approved For Release 2011/08/09: CIA-RDP09TOO207RO01000020026-5