The CIA has become an almost mythical government agency, viewed as full of super spies who carry out the US government’s wishes across the globe. And perhaps one of the most infamous of these accounts is the CIA’s supposed orchestration of the 1973 coup in Chile. But Professor James Lockhart’s new research casts doubt on this common narrative. He digs into the CIA’s actual influence in Chile, why this narrative has become so ingrained, and what it all means for the US today.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Lockhart’s book, Chile, the CIA and the Cold War: A Transatlantic Perspective
• Read his SSN brief, How Getting History Right Can Improve Relations between America and the Global South
• Find his article with the Marine Corps University Press, How Effective Are Covert Operations?: The CIA’s Intervention in Chile, 1964–73