Office of the Historian

208. Letter From President Eisenhower to Prime Minister Nehru1

Washington, April 30, 1958.

My Dear Mr. Prime Minister: I have just received news reports from New Delhi that you are thinking of laying down your official and heavy responsibilities, at least for the time being.

You, if anyone, Mr. Prime Minister, deserve a long and restful vacation after all these years that you have guided your vast country toward economic, political, and social progress. However, I and countless others hope that you will not go too far away or for too long a time.

Are there not at least faint indications that the world may be at a turning point when some important problems can be solved, when perhaps the sharpness of conflict between the Soviet Union and the West may be sufficiently moderated to become tolerable? Certainly considerable progress has been made from the days when it seemed, to us at least, that the Soviet leaders were relying primarily on violence to attain their objectives. Their goals, and of this Mr. Khrushchev makes no secret, are still expansionist, but their methods seem to have somewhat moderated in the face of the world’s opposition to violence as a technique for bringing about change. I also have in mind that we might be reaching a time when some of those problems which have persistently beset Indo-Pakistan relations might be susceptible to solution. I had, indeed, been thinking of communicating with you in this matter.2

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Under all these circumstances, it would indeed be a misfortune, perhaps for all of us, if at what may prove to be a critical, formative period, your own influence were not actively present over any really protracted period.3

Sincerely,

Dwight D. Eisenhower4
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 791.13/4–3058. Secret; Presidential Handling. Transmitted to the Embassy in New Delhi in telegram 2541, which is the source text. This letter was drafted by Dulles. Earlier that day, Goodpaster informed Dulles that the President was thinking of sending a cable to Nehru. He explained that the President wanted Dulles to send a message in his name and would give the Secretary clearance in advance. (Memorandum of telephone conversation; Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations)↩
  2. See Document 34.↩

  3. Nehru replied in a letter to Eisenhower on May 4. He expressed gratitude for the President’s message and explained that he was planning to change his surroundings by spending some time in the mountains. (Department of State, Central Files, 711.11–EI/5–458)

    In a letter of May 16, Bunker informed Eisenhower of the positive effects which his letter to Nehru had. (Ibid., SOA Files: Lot 62 D 43, India—1958)

    ↩
  4. Telegram 2541 bears this typed signature.↩