Salvador Allende Biography
Early Life
Salvador Isabelino del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Allende Gossens was born on July 26, 1908, in Valparaíso, Chile. The son of Salvador Allende Castro and Doña Laura Gossens Uribe, he was part of an upper-middle-class family that had a long tradition in progressive politics.
In his youth, Allende was influenced by an anarchist shoemaker, Juan De Marchi, who promoted revolution and radical politics. Allende was arrested multiple times while a student at the University of Chile for protesting against the government. After receiving his medical degree in 1932, he co-founded Chile’s Socialist Party.
President of Chile
When Allende took office, Chile was enduring a severe economic crisis. Unemployment was high and an estimated half of the country’s children under the age of 15 were suffering from malnutrition. Allende immediately implemented his socialist agenda, increasing wages and freezing prices while taking steps to reform the education system, health care and government administration.
Poor economic planning and a growing dysfunctional relationship between Allende and Congress deepened the country’s economic difficulty. The president’s inability to control his own radical left wing brought further hostility from the middle class, though he remained popular among workers and peasants.
Final Days
On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup d’état to overthrow Allende, who refused to surrender and barricaded himself in the presidential palace. During the siege, a large number of civilians were killed or wounded and many were imprisoned.
There were conflicting reports regarding whether Allende committed suicide or was killed by soldiers storming the palace after it was attacked by the Chilean Air Force. The CIA later acknowledged its support of the political opposition and advance knowledge of the coup, though it continues to deny any direct involvement in the event itself. In 2011, Allende’s body was exhumed, and a scientific autopsy confirmed he had died by suicide.