Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until his 1973 suicide, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was the first Marxist ever to be elected to the national presidency of a liberal democracy in Latin America.

How was Allende elected?

Allende won the 1970 Chilean presidential election as leader of the Unidad Popular ("Popular Unity") coalition. On 4 September 1970, he obtained a narrow plurality of 36.2% to 34.9% over Jorge Alessandri, a former president, with 27.8% going to a third candidate (Radomiro Tomic) of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).

Why did the US overthrow Salvador Allende?

They feared that Allende would push Chile into socialism, and therefore lose all of the US investments made in Chile. On 15 September 1970; before Allende took office, Richard Nixon gave the order to overthrow Allende. ... The goal of Track II was to find and support Chilean military officers that would support a coup.