Historic U.S. Presidential Visits To India

0
162

NEW DELHI –  It is certainly not the first time that a U.S. President is paying a visit to India but definitely the first time that a U.S. President is being invited as the Chief Guest for the most celebrated national event of the year—The Republic Day Parade. It is an honor to have U.S. President Barack Obama amidst us. This particular visit of Obama is much more significant than his earlier visit marking transition in the government.

As the preparations ahead of Obama’s meeting reach the last stages, we need to recall those previous U.S. Presidents who came to India. And we would be surprised to find the reasons they were here for:

Dwight D Eisenhower (July 31, 1969):

Dwight D Eisenhower fulfilled his childhood dream to see Taj Mahal when he visited India on a five-day tour as the first ever U.S. President, in the last year of his second term. During his visit, Eisenhower spoke at a huge public rally at New Delhi’s famous Ramlila Ground and addressed a joint sitting of Parliament. This visit was highly symbolic as he promised more American aid to India and was responsible for bringing U.S.-India bilateral relations to a friendlier footing.

Eisenhower respected India’s Non Alignment position, as India under Jawaharlal Nehru refused to be part of either U.S. or Soviet-led military alliance. This visit clearly broke the ambiguity in the global politics as to what India means to U.S. Eisenhower went on to say that America’s relationship with India was of the head, while that with Pakistan was of the heart. Fifty years since then the tables turned completely when in 2010 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “India-U.S. relationship was an affair of the heart, not just of the head.”

Richard Nixon (July 31, 1969—August 1, 1969):

As part of his Asian tour President Nixon visited India within 6 months after he became the President of United States of America. This was one visit that disturbed India’s relation with the U.S. for a while in history. He barely spent 22 hours, the shortest by a U.S. President to India. A short visit that reflected the unease between him and the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, worsened in the run-up to and the aftermath of the Bangladesh war of 1971. Many observed and discussed about the lack of warmth between President Nixon and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in this 1969 visit.

Apart from that official visit President Nixon also visited India as a private citizen in 1963 and 1967. Here again it was widely said that the Indians received him with the minimum of appropriate protocol, while the Pakistanis lionized the former Vice-President.

Jimmy Carter (January 1, 1978—January 3, 1978):

This was one historic visit when the whole of United States tried their luck with the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai. The visit came barely a year after the Janata Party’s historic election win. The Americans considered Morarji Desai anti-Communist and believed his government might mark a departure from Indira Gandhi’s pro-Soviet policy. Jimmy Carter’s visit was also to ease India’s relations with U.S. after the Bangladesh war and the 1974 Pokhran test. And rightly so the aid that was suspended after the Bangladesh war was revived.

Jimmy Carter also addressed a joint session of Parliament and visited a village near Delhi. Here he advertized the fact that Carter had started life as a peanut farmer to build a bond between him and Indian farmers. Jimmy Carter made best of his efforts to bond with the Indian citizens. Carter and his wife Rosalynn gifted a television set to the village and promised funds. The village, in Daulatpur-Nasirabad, changed its name soon after and is called Carterpuri to this day. However, the visit didn’t go according to plan. Carter wanted the Indians to put an end to their nuclear ambitions.

Bill Clinton (March 21, 2000 – March 25, 2000):

President Bill Clinton finally ended the long standing American sanctions, imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests, and spread the red carpet for the new beginning of closer U.S.-India strategic and economic ties.

Having spent five days in India and just about five hours in Pakistan, he concluded to the Indian establishment that India and Pakistan stood de-hyphenated in Washington’s scheme of things. Clinton, and daughter Chelsea charmed the Indian public wherever they went.

The insurmountable measure of Clinton’s popularity in India, was palpable as India parliamentarians mobbed him after his address to a joint session.