Excerpts, INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES (?)
McMillan India (Google documents)
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Why was Nehru Anti-American?
Although Nehru had good relations with President Eisenhower and
his successor John F. Kennedy, he was seen as anti-American as Nehru
was wedded to his non-alignment policy. The then Indian ambassador
to the US B.K. Nehru refers to this in his book Nice Guys Finish
Second.1 He recalls how one day I dared to ask him a very rude
question which was 'why are you so anti-American?' Prime Minister
Nehru answered sharply that he was not anti-American. I said 'Oh
yes, Sir, You are'. He asked why I said so? I answered 'Because your
instinctive reaction to any proposal that may come from the United
States is to reject it, however good it may'. After a long silence he
said in a low voice:
May be there is some truth in what you say. May be I am
instinctively anti-American. I remember that when I was at Harrow
(in the UK) there was one single American boy in the school. He
was very rich and the rest of us disliked him for his preoccupation
with money and looked down upon him for that reason. It may be
that my negative reaction to America is because of that experience.
May be this explains the Nehru psychology.
Nehru's Visit to the United States
Nehru visited the United States as prime minister in November 1961,
his third state visit and the last to that country. Kennedy was the
president then. A confidential internal report at that time stated that
Nehru's popularity was exceeded only by that of late Mahatma
Gandhi. It pointed out that Nehru was seen as an Indian who became
a westerner; an aristocrat who became a socialist; and an individualist
who became a mass leader. It would have been quite easy to have
established a dictatorship for Nehru, a man of such eminence, giving
all the excuses for doing so that so many of his contemporaries had
given. Nehru instead chose to lead India on the immeasurably more
difficult path of parliamentary democracy and to ensure that during
his lifetime it would be a democracy of substance as well as form. 'It
was debated whether Nehru desires to be or is a great world leader.
Certainly, India's wide involvement in matters of global concern
suggests that he does so desire. However, his interest in world affairs
is derived from and secondary to his consuming concerns for Indian
problems.' (see Appendix 1.2)
Ambassador B.K. Nehru terms this visit as a 'disaster' because
Jawaharlal Nehru was tired, moody, and not very responsive. B.K.
Nehru writes in Nice Guys Finish Second, that
President Kennedy
wanted to have a special relationship with Pandit Nehru and broke
all protocol in receiving him when Nehru visited his private home at
Hammersmith farm. The idea was to have talks in an informal setting.
While Kennedy repeatedly tried to evoke some response from Nehru
on the Vietnam issue (Vietnam became one of the reasons for the
deteriorating Indo-US relations) the latter remained silent throughout.
At one point of time later at the Blair House, Nehru showed glimpses
of his vision about this issue and told his Secretary M.J. Desai, 'Tell
them. Tell them not to get into Vietnam. They will be bogged down.
They will never be able to get out.'
B.K. Nehru observes that if only
Nehru had told this to Kennedy, things may have turned out to be
different.
Later Ambassador Nehru got the impression that Kennedy thought
that Prime Minister Nehru was 'finished' because he was for long
periods 'spiritless, listless, uninterested in surroundings, and uncomm-
unicative' – the very reverse of the usual Jawaharlal Nehru's
personality.
Despite the great charm of Kennedy, Pandit Nehru did
not find him extraordinary. Kennedy, on the other hand praised Nehru
in his State of the Union address on 31 January 1961 for his soaring
idealism which no US president had ever done since about any Indian
leader. Prime Minister Nehru was more relaxed later when he visited
California where he enjoyed himself in Disneyland and also met the
English writer Aldous Huxley, the Hollywood actor Marlon Brando,
and the historian couple Durranis. He went to see a film studio in
Hollywood before returning to Delhi.3
Change in Indo-US Relations
Within a year, the relationship between the United States and India
changed. This was mainly due to the Chinese aggression on 20
October 1962. The country was taken unawares and the Indian
Armed Forces were not ready to face the Chinese might. It is common
knowledge that Nehru did not know the real state of affairs initially
because he blindly believed his Defence Minister Krishna Menon.
After the Chinese aggression, Nehru's other cabinet colleagues
demanded the immediate ouster of Menon. Bowing to their pressure,
Nehru reluctantly made him a minister without portfolio and later
altogether dropped him from his cabinet.
Six days later, Pandit Nehru was forced to seek American military
help on 26 October 1962. This was the first time Nehru had changed
his earlier stand on non-alignment out of sheer compulsion. According
to B.K. Nehru who met President Kennedy on behalf of the Indian
government, the latter assured that help would come without delay.
Kennedy's next question was did India ask the Russian leader
Khrushchev for help? When B.K. Nehru expressed uncertainty,
Kennedy said, 'You should ask him, you would know who your real
friends are and who are just content to talk. Tell Khrushchev to put
up or shut up,' Kennedy said.4 This explains the mistrust between
the Americans and the Soviets at that time. Kennedy was trying to
taunt that it was the US and not the Soviets who would come to
India's help against the Chinese.
A month passed but the Chinese aggression continued on the
border. On 19 November 1962, Prime Minister Nehru wrote another
letter to Kennedy requesting direct and substantial military help to
meet the Chinese onslaught. He asked for two squadrons of B-47
bombers and speedy training of Indian pilots to bomb the Chinese in
Tibet. He also requested that the US Air Force send 12 squadrons of
supersonic fighters to protect Indian cities against the Chinese
attacks. According to a State Department telegram sent to the US
Embassy in New Delhi giving the text of Nehru-Kennedy letter, Nehru
ended his letter by saying, 'Your great country will in this hour of
trial help us in our fight for survival and for the survival of freedom
and independence in this subcontinent as well as the rest of Asia'.5
The plea for more help from Pandit Nehru arrived in the form of two
more telegrams on 22 November 1962. The letters showed Nehru's
desperation clearly. These letters were promptly passed on to
President Kennedy by Ambassador Nehru.
Before Kennedy could reply the war had ended but not without
having altered the fundamentals of the Indo-American relations.
Although India continued to talk of non-alignment, she now became
more of a friend to the US in their efforts to confront China. There
was a military understanding between the two countries for the supply
of US arms and equipment for this purpose. There was also a political
quid pro quo – India's defence plans would have to be approved by
the US before it would agree to provide necessary supplies, and India
would have to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir. Pakistan
was quite upset with the US military supply to India and its President
Ayub Khan made strong protests to Washington contending that India
may use the American supplied weapons against Pakistan. Kennedy
wrote to Ayub Khan assuring him that military assistance to India
was only to be used against China.
A week after the end of the Sino-Indian war on 28 November
1962, Ayub Khan under pressure agreed for negotiations with India
on Kashmir when Kennedy sent a high level team headed by Averill
Harriman. After talks with both Ayub Khan and Nehru, Harriman,
in a National Security Review Committee meeting on 3 December
1962, expressed hopelessness with regard to finding a solution to the
Kashmir issue. However, the then Assistant Secretary of State, Philips
Talbot believing that this failure of talks would mean that the problem
would continue for decades advised Kennedy to continue efforts.
Just before the Kashmir talks resumed Kennedy sent letters to both
Ayub Khan and Nehru about the need for dialogue. Prime Minister
Nehru replied to the president that, 'To give up the valley to Pakistan
or to countenance its internationalisation (poses) political and
strategic problems for India which (render) such solutions
impossible'.6
Realising that there was an impasse, three weeks later, Kennedy
made it clear to Ayub Khan in a letter dated 22 December 1962 that:
'we agreed on a reasonable and frugal programme of military
assistance designed solely to enable India to defend itself better should
Chinese Communists renew their attacks at an early date'.
He also
made it clear that the supply of arms to India would not be made
contingent on a Kashmir settlement.7
Kennedy continued his efforts for the next few months. The US
military aid continued as Kennedy was keen on providing a long-
term assistance to India. He also tried to help resolve the Kashmir
problem by constantly persuading both Nehru and Ayub Khan to
continue dialogue. Several rounds of talks on Kashmir throughout
the year, however, did not yield any results.
On 22 November 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated, India
deeply mourned his death.
As T.N. Kaul reflects in his book
Reminiscences Discreet and Indiscreet8 if Kennedy had lived, it is
possible, 'our relations with the US would have been put on even
keel, on the basis of mutual respect and understanding'.
When Lyndon Johnson took over after Kennedy's assassination, there
was a change in the Indo-US relations at the White House. Johnson
continued with some of Kennedy's aides like Komer and Philips Talbot
which helped the Indo-US relations remain balanced. Johnson had
also visited India and Pakistan when he was the vice president in 1961,
and was familiar with both countries. Prime Minister Nehru in the
meantime wrote two letters to Johnson – one offering condolences
when Kennedy was assassinated, and the second sent through his
daughter Indira Gandhi when she visited the United States in April
1964. Indira Gandhi met Johnson briefly and handed over the letter to
him. She also had a separate meeting with Mrs Johnson.
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