ABSTRACT
The withdrawal of food aid from the government of Salvador Allende was part of an overall United States (U. S.) foreign policy strategy to destabilize the Chilean regime, and consideration of the possible domestic consequences of the policy was minimal. U. S. foreign-policy officials, particularly National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, while undoubtedly aware of economic implications of Allende’s victory, sought at this time to frame American concerns in traditional security terms. U. S. food prices were feeling the effects of the 1972 Soviet grain sales, and the rise in soybean prices, which had a direct impact on the cost of livestock production and was passed on to the American consumer in the form of higher meat prices, made matters that much worse. It must be noted that in addition to the negative impact the soybean embargo had on U. S. foreign policy and foreign economic policy interests which were to hold down food prices and avoid a shortage at home.
