The Gathering Storm

In this novel take on diplomatic history, Sebastián Hurtado-Torres examines the involvement of the United States in Chile during the Eduardo Frei administration (1964–1970) and shows how the engagement between the two nations deepened the process of political polarization in Chile.

At the heart of The Gathering Storm is a description of the partnership between Frei's government and that of Lyndon B. Johnson. Both leaders considered modernization to be integral to political and economic development, and the US Embassy in Santiago was recognized by all parties to be the center of this modernizing agenda and the practical work of the Alliance for Progress (AFP).

Hurtado-Torres portrays the diplomatic and economic relationship between Chile and the United States in a manner that departs from the most militant and conservative interpretations of US foreign policy toward Latin America. By focusing on the active participation of agents of US foreign policy—particularly those associated with the AFP—and not secret operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency, Hurtado-Torres offers a fresh narrative about a critical period in Chilean political history and a new understanding of the ways and means through which the foreign policy of the United States was carried out.

Sebastián Hurtado-Torres is Assistant Professor in the Instituto de Historia at Universidad San Sebastián. Follow him on X @delaestacion.

[A]s Sebastián Hurtado-Torres explains in this fine study, [Eduardo] Frei's term is more remarkable because of his unsuccessful struggles to contain the entropy that led to the Marxist candidate Salvador Allende's 1970 electoral triumph (which then led to the 1973 coup d'état against Allende and the subsequent brutally repressive military regime). Hurtado-Torres's study is not just an exploration of Frei's political fortunes but also an analysis of the activist U.S. role in Chilean politics during this vital period.

As a Chilean historian trained at Ohio University, Sebastian Hurtado-Torres uses his expertise to produce a well-constructed argument on the nature of Chilean politics in the Cold War. As a book that appears as part of the Cornell University series entitled the 'United States in the World', it fits well in the growing literature of US history produced beyond the borders of the United States. The Gathering Storm enlarges understandings of Cold War politics in Latin America by including the point of view of liberal anticommunism and its modernising project. Readers interested in exploring the complicated relations between the United States and its Latin American allies beyond the simplistic image of oligarchies and extreme right actors will find Hurtado-Torres' book a valuable contribution to the discussion.

By shifting our chronological frame and examining a different corpus of documents, this new account challenges the readers' preconceived notions regarding Cold War-era US policy toward Chile. It is compelling reading and draws our attention to a number of events and individuals in Chilean political history who have received comparatively little attention. Even though we can discern the gathering storm on the horizon throughout this monograph, it is written with great detail and a sense of contingency, allowing developments to be analyzed on their own terms and also as precursors to the breakdown of democracy.

[T]he major contribution of Sebastián Hurtado-Torres's The Gathering Storm is to trace the very frank, aboveboard roles that US diplomats played in supporting the Christian Democratic government of Eduardo Frei Montalva and the eager collaboration of many Christian Democrats (as well as other political leaders) with US objectives. This book usefully combines traditional diplomatic history with a forensic history of Chile's political parties to make three related observations and arguments. This valuable political history is crucial reading for students of modern Chile and Latin American politics.

Complete with notes, this work would be a valuable addition to academic libraries with collections on Latin America.

Hurtado-Torres offers a sophisticated reinterpretation of U.S.-Chilean relations in the 1960s prior to the 1970 election of the leftist Salvador Allende.

Max Paul Friedman, American University:

This is a well-researched study of the influence of the United States upon Chilean high politics, written with verve and displaying sound judgments on an array of topics of importance to U.S.–Latin American relations.

Tanya Harmer, The London School of Economics:

This is an important contribution to the history of Chile and US-Chilean relations in the 1960s. By addressing this period head on, Hurtado-Torres offers vital new insight into Chile's international history and US involvement in that country, contextualising the 1970s and significantly adding to our understanding of the bilateral relationship.