45. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in India1
1928. Please deliver following personal message to Nehru from Secretary:
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
President Eisenhower and I have just been talking together about the Kashmir matter now before the Security Council. We are, as you know, distressed that there should be this sharp dispute between two of our good friends. Also it is not easy to determine our course because of the cross-currents, some religious and some political.
You will, however, we are confident, understand that, as a minimum, we cannot disregard the prior decisions of the United Nations with reference to a plebiscite, unless the parties concerned agree on some other solution. Also we do not see how the Security Council can be silent in the face of any development which might gravely disturb the situation contrary to United Nations decisions.
We are working with the British on a draft of a resolution which we hope will be considered moderate and generally acceptable. The President and I, however, did not want you to feel that we were unmindful of your great personal preoccupation with this [Page 119] situation or that we had forgotten what you had said to us on this subject.
It is very distressing when we are confronted by these issues and we try to do the best we can under the guidance of the principles which President Eisenhower enunciated yesterday in his Inaugural Address, a copy of which is no doubt available to you.
With my sincere best wishes, I am, my dear Mr. Prime Minister, John Foster Dulles”
FYI—We do not contemplate publication.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 690D.91/1–2257. Secret; Priority; Limited Distribution. Drafted and approved by Dulles; cleared with Rountree, Jones, and Withers.↩