The story of Chile--a
legacy of torture, murder, international terrorism
and the deep influential Nazi connection.
After
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Hitler's
subsequent declaration of war upon the United States,
Chile's reluctance to sever diplomatic ties with Nazi
Germany allowed it to maximize its opportunities
there, influencing Chilean politicians, military
operations, and the popular media. This is the story
of Chile, of its efforts to maintain neutrality, its
abandonment of neutrality, and the
significance--long-term and short-term--of those
actions.
Based
on documentary evidence from the archives of the
Chilean Foreign Office, and from U.S., British,
German, and, intercepted, Japanese documents, Mount
is one of the first authors to provide evidence of
the events and circumstances surrounding Chile's
refusal to comply with the will of the White House
and the State Department, in 1942, that they sever
diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy
and Imperial Japan.
According
to his findings, this refusal, fueled by bribes to
influential politicians and journalists, a respect
for the German-Chilean electorate in a presidential
election year, a fear of what Nazi submarines might
do to Chilean shipping and the Chilean coastline, and
a desire to demonstrate independence, allowed these
countries to use their embassies as centres of
espionage that radiated as far north as Canada and
threatened Allied shipping. Mount concludes that
although the government of President Rios finally did
make the break, sympathy for the Nazis and their
values did not disappear but continued to have an
impact upon Chile into the era of Augusto Pinochet,
Chilean head of state from 1973 to 1990.
Table of Contents
GRAEME S. MOUNT teaches history at Laurentian
University in Sudbury, Ontario. He is author of many
books dealing with Canada-United States relations.
His most recent include The
Caribbean Basin: An International History
and Invisible and Inaudible in
Washington: American Policies toward Canada during
the Cold War.
204
pages, photographs
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-192-5 $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-193-3 $48.99
History
/ Current Events
November
2001
