Sunday 13 December 2015

12 DEC 1959 DWIGHT EISEHOWER VISITS INDIA

Dwight D Eisenhower



Additional relevant text to escape autocollapse:

American presidents started travelling while in office only in the 20th century. Teddy Roosevelt was the first President to travel abroad while in office in 1906. So earlier American presidents definitely did not travel to pre-independent India.

Eisenhower became the first US president to visit India. Between 9-Dec-1959 to 14-Dec-1959, he visited New Delhi and Agra, met India's PM Jawaharlal Nehru and President Rajendra Prasad, and addressed Parliament.

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In 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first US President to visit India to strengthen the staggering ties between the two nations. He was so supportive that the New York Times remarked, "It did not seem to matter much whether Nehru had actually requested or been given a guarantee that the US would help India to meet further Chinese Communist aggression. What mattered was the obvious strengthening of Indian-American friendship to a point where no such guarantee was necessary."

Later, Nixon visited India in 1969 for a single day and met Acting President Mohammad Hidayatullah. I can't imagine anything much was discussed except pleasantries. Height of the Cold War, and the East Pakistan situation must have been looming.

Jimmy Carter dropped by in 1978, met with President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and Prime Minister Morarji Desai and addressed Parliament of India. They probably gave a wide berth to Indira, and later ignored us over the 80s and 90s.

Over 30 years later, Clinton showed up in 2000 after Pokhran and tried to get us to allay their fears of nuclear disaster. He was here for almost a week.

George Bush came in 2006 for a couple of days.

Obama has been here twice, in 2010 and 2015, and has had much more cultural interaction with us than his predecessors. He went beyond the Taj Mahal, and visited Humayun's Tomb and Raj Ghat, and chewed gum through the entirety of the 2015 Republic Day.

Thanks for the A2A.

Wikipedia -
List of international trips made by the President of the United States
India–United States relations
Written 5 Nov • View Upvotes • Asked to answer by Rahul Mandiwal
Suresh Dholia
Suresh Dholia, Curious about Politics
42 Views
Dwight D Eisenhower was first USA president to visit India in 1959.

President at Taj Mahal
At Ramlila ground

Below is the quote from New York Times:

"It did not seem to matter much whether Nehru had actually requested or been given a guarantee that the US would help India to meet further Chinese Communist aggression. What mattered was the obvious strengthening of Indian-American friendship to a point where no such guarantee was necessary."

Source:
India–United States relations
Google images
Giridharan Velamore
Giridharan Velamore, Keen follower of Politics in India for about 3 decades
68 Views
I believe it was Gen Dwight Eisenhower, the first US President to visit India in 1959.


Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru is receiving President Eisenhower at Parliament house. He then addressed the joint session of parliament.
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