Chile, the CIA, and the Cold War: a Transatlantic Perspective by James Lockhart (Review)

Chile, the CIA, and the Cold War: A Transatlantic Perspective by James Lockhart (review) Brian Jirout Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Volume 11, Number 2, 2020, pp. 233-235 (Review) Published by Marine Corps University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796344/summary [ Access provided at 24 Sep 2021 07:13 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Vol. 11, No. 2 in which Tallis concludes his book is a result of topic fatigue: a second printing, or a second edition some years hence addressing the larger of the book’s sticking points, is strongly recommended. TWMW is not an easy read; it would not likely find its way onto an undergraduate political science syllabus. It would find a more secure footing as a book on a doctoral comprehensive exam, but it is as a reference text for theorists and policy makers that it finds its niche. Ambjörn L. Adomeit Graduate, Royal Military College of Canada’s post-graduate War Studies Programme Chile, the CIA, and the Cold War: A Transatlantic Perspective. By James Lockhart. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2019. Pp. 224. $100 (hardcover); $24.95 (paperback and ebook). Since 2018, Edinburgh University Press has published the Intelligence, Sur- veillance, and Secret Warfare Series in which it “explores the full spectrum of spying and secret warfare in a globalized world.” With three titles published and five more anticipated, the series recently welcomed its newest edition,Chile, the CIA, and the Cold War: A Transatlantic Perspective by American University in Dubai history professor James Lockhart. The author launches the reader into the turmoil of 1970s Chilean politics with the abduction turned assassination of Chilean army chief of staff René Schneider, which was ultimately intended to thwart the congressional election of Communist leaning Salvador Allende, who held power from 1970 to 1973. Lockhart then proceeds through an introduction, nine chapters, and a con- clusion, each with notes, to make three key arguments. First, that Chile, as a country, with particular attention to Chilean political actors (most of whom are men) as well as activists and guerrillas, decided its own fate as a country exercising its agency as an actor in the Cold War. Second, Chilean affairs influenced inter-American and transatlantic politics, as opposed to much previous Cold War literature that situates Chile as a state acted on by opposing agents from both the American and Soviet spheres of influence. Third, Chile, despite many foreign and domestic intelligence, military, and insurgency operations, “ground conditions in Chile and other Latin American nations were far more influential” regarding Chile’s conduct during the Cold War (p. 7). The book successfully addresses these arguments while contributing to the field. In the introduction, Lockhart begins by reviewing the variety of perspec- tives on Chile’s situation and experience within the Cold War, as a state with Book Reviews 233 Journal of Advanced Military Studies limited agency toppled from outside, whether by clandestine American anti- Communist power brokers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the White House, an internal conflict heavily influenced by Latin American neigh- bors such as anti-Communist Brazil and revolutionary Cuba, or a combination of these Cold War variables. Also, Lockhart specifically addresses CIA intervention, which the literature suggests is the key factor in Chile’s Cold War experience, is actually less impactful given many of its imposed outcomes simply could not be implemented (p. 7). Given Lockhart’s particular interest in Cold War intervention, the book’s theoretical lineage draws from a range of Cold War and Latin Americanist historians, particularly Odd Arne Westad, Peter Kornbluh, and Kirsten Weld. Lockhart is especially drawn to Westad, whose “concept of the essence of the long Cold War” and work on Cold War intervention informs much of Lockhart’s writing style and intellectual approach to this book (p. 7). Given this lineage, Chile, the CIA, and the Cold War addresses the larger context of Chilean history from shortly after Chilean independence from Spain in the early nineteenth century and situates Chile as the “the England of South America,” a constitutional state that although authoritarian was “pragmatic, pro-business, and socially conservative” (p. 19). The author then navigates twentieth century Cold War anti-Communist and pro-democracy politics as well as myriad Chilean political actors with emphasis on Gabriel González Vi- dela, the Eduardo Frei administration, General Roberto Viaux’s movement, and the rise of Augusto Pinochet. The author focuses on the deeply complex political maneuvering of these actors as well as American, Latin American, and some transatlantic communication with Chilean leaders, and the political conflict against Communism, all with an eye toward intervention. Lockhart bookends the story with American President Barack Obama’s visit to Santiago in 2011 when he faced Chilean calls for a formal apology for American intervention during the Cold War. Lockhart makes his contribution to this area of Cold War and Latin Amer- ican history especially well, weaving his arguments together to demonstrate that despite powerful interventionist movements, Chile sustained its agency as an international actor. Lockhart’s other contribution is in his use of sources from Chile, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russian to Spanish translations of Soviet records on the Chilean Communist Party. In particular, Lockhart made use of the American National Archives’ expansive collection of recently declassified CIA records regarding its interventionist efforts in Chile. In Santiago, the author accessed collections of international relations, nuclear energy, and human rights records. These construct the intervention narrative, yet the reader is left with further curiosity about the transatlantic perspective component of the book title. 234 Book Reviews Vol. 11, No. 2 While the title claims a transatlantic perspective, this does not appear well defined in the introduction or apparent at times in the chapters. The author does bring in Spanish postcolonial context as well as Soviet and British per- spectives; yet, much of the story is indeed focused, as his argument states, on Chilean agency and American intervention. Thus, the majority are from the United States and Chile, with only one archive consulted in Europe, the British National Archives. Also, his use of periodicals and published primary sources are almost entirely American or Chilean. The author uses American and Chilean sources, expertly weaving them into his tale of interventionism and his argument, though the reader is left with curiosity about the transatlantic component of the book’s title, especially outside of Great Britain, given Chile’s Spanish colonial past. Thus, this book is an excellent case study for historians of Latin America, the Cold War, and intelligence studies as well as international relations schol- ars, political geographers, and political scientists interested in intervention and statecraft. Given the book’s arguments and exceptional use of declassified CIA records, the book is a useful and even necessary addition to the literature on Cold War Chile, intelligence studies, and studies of intervention. The narrow focus of the book may limit its utility in teaching though. Graduate seminars on Latin America, the Cold War, or research methods courses would benefit, though may prove more difficult to assign in undergraduate teaching. Overall, this engaging book makes a contribution to Cold War history with understanding the role of Chile within what Westad calls the global Cold War. Also, the author makes an important argument that empowers the agency of state actors and activists outside the Cold War binary of the United States and Soviet Union. Lastly, the author resourcefully used newly accessible records that help to better narrate how the Cold War came to be and understand the myriad relics it left behind. Brian Jirout, PhD Independent Scholar The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture: Lessons Learned and Lost in America’s Wars. By Jeannie L. Johnson. Washington, DC: Georgetown Uni- versity Press, 2018. Pp. 324. $110.95 (hardcover); $36.95 (paperback). Jeannie L. Johnson’s policy-relevant book assesses what the American govern- ment and United States Marine Corps have learned and retained, learned but discarded and lost, and failed to learn in counterinsurgency from the early twen- Book Reviews 235.

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