Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende (1908 to 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 29th president of Chile from 1970 until his death in 1973. A founder of the Socialist Party of Chile, he spent nearly forty years in politics as a deputy, senator and cabinet minister and lost the presidential elections of 1952, 1958 and 1964 before winning in 1970 at the head of the Popular Unity coalition, confirmed by Congress in a run-off. He is often described as the first Marxist elected president in a liberal democracy in Latin America. His program, called the Chilean Path to Socialism, nationalized major industries and expanded education. On 11 September 1973 the military overthrew his government in a coup, and he died in the presidential palace of La Moneda; General Augusto Pinochet then ruled Chile for years of dictatorship.