246. Editorial Note

On December 3, President Eisenhower left Washington on the first leg of a world tour that would take him to 11 countries in 3 weeks, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. Eisenhower arrived in New Delhi on December 9 and remained in India until December 14. Memoranda of Eisenhower’s conversations with Nehru on December 10 and 13 are printed infra and as Document 248.

On November 13, Eisenhower discussed his upcoming trip with Lord Plowden, Chairman of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority. A memorandum of that conversation, drafted the following day by Goodpaster, reads in part as follows: [Page 521]

“Lord Plowden said the President’s visit to India is extremely significant. The President agreed, commenting that for all the rest he is making a bow and expressing America’s respects. He is greatly interested in India. Here is a neutral nation of tremendous importance. In fact, he is doing all this just to get to India. He was much impressed by one thing Nehru told him when Nehru visited here—that if something spectacular could be done to show the attachment of the West and the interest of the West in India, such an action would be extremely helpful to the future course of relations between India and the West. Lord Plowden strongly endorsed this view.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, DDE Diaries)