Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume VI

501.BC Kashmir/8–2949

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State

secret

[Washington,] August 30, 1949.

Participants:	Madame Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Ambassador of India
	Mr. Dean Acheson, Secretary of State
	Mr. George McGhee, Assistant Secretary of State
	Mr. T. N. Kaul, First Secretary, Embassy of India
	Mr. Joseph S. Sparks, SOA

In identifying the Note¹ which I handed to Madame Pandit I said that in conversations which I had had with the President concerning the situation in China and the Far East it had been apparent to both of us that the Ambassador’s brother, the Prime Minister of India, had emerged as a world figure of great influence and that we looked to him to assume the leadership in the rehabilitation of Asia. I said that in this role the entire world now had a claim upon him as one of its great statesmen and that we deeply hoped that in receiving the President’s personal appeal the Prime Minister would give the most careful consideration to the proposals of the United Nations Commission that the truce agreement should be submitted to arbitration. In particular I pointed out our concern that the great prestige which the Prime Minister enjoys throughout Asia should be even further fortified and in no way impaired by the manner in which he reacted to the Kashmir problem.

Madame Pandit said that she was deeply appreciative of the things I had said about the Prime Minister. She said that whereas she could of course not comment on his reaction to the proposal contained in the Note she did know that her brother more than any man in the world had been concerned by and worked for the solution of the Kashmir problem and that he would give the most serious thought to any proposals which emanated as this one so obviously did (in view of the American record throughout the history of the problem) from a truly friendly source. She said that she did not know about “leadership” but she did know that the Prime Minister and India were extremely anxious to cooperate in every way possible with the rest of Asia and to work in the closest possible relationship with the United States. In her opinion the importance of the Kashmir problem was fully understood in India and she was certain that the United States was aware of the complexity of the problem from an emotional, as well as economic, point of view. She fervently hoped that this situation could be “gotten out of the way” and that true understanding could be developed between India and Pakistan as well as between India and the rest of the world. In particular she mentioned the speech which the President had made last evening in Philadelphia and said that she had been struck by the close similarity between the things being said by the President and by the leaders of India.²

1. A copy of President Truman’s message to Prime Minister Nehru is included in telegram 592, supra.
2. For the text of the President’s address at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1949 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1964), p. 446.