Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXV, South Asia

127. Letter From President Johnson to Prime Minister Shastri¹

Washington, June 5, 1965.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

Your letter of May 23² arrived as I was writing to send my best wishes on the first anniversary of your assuming the office of Prime Minister. The year has been a difficult one for both of us, but I know that our faith in the democratic way of doing things will bear fruit.

We have also been deeply concerned over the unhappy events in the Rann of Kutch and the use of U.S. military equipment in this dispute. The role of a friend to both parties is not easy and often misunderstood. But I believe our efforts to put a stop to the use of our military equipment were helpful in getting the fighting stopped. Now the problem becomes one of finding a formula for peaceful settlement as a substitute for settlement by force. Despite the problems you mention, I deeply hope that you can reach an agreement, and thereby reduce the awesome possibility of larger conflict.

I fully share your desire that you and I, and our two governments, should act always in a spirit of mutual understanding. In that spirit, let me respond very frankly to your suggestion that the search for peace in Vietnam might be furthered by a cessation of the air strikes being conducted against North Vietnam by the South Vietnamese and U.S. air forces. You know the importance we attach to a solution to the Vietnam problem. To us, the Chinese Communist-supported aggression in Vietnam poses the same kind of threat to Free World interests as Communist China’s attack on India in 1962.

I wish to tell you in utmost privacy of the effort we have already made to induce a response from Hanoi by a suspension of air strikes, and the depressing lack of any response. I enclose an informal and confidential memorandum³ which candidly describes our efforts to date, and our current thinking as to certain future possibilities. It reflects my own deep desire to find a road to peace in Vietnam, and to share my thinking with you fully to this end.

Let me assure you that we will continue prayerfully to explore any hopeful opening. There is no step I would not take if in my judgment it offered real prospect of the peaceful settlement we both want.

I deeply regret that your parliamentary and other commitments may not permit an autumn visit. I assure you we would welcome a visit at any future date you should conclude would be desirable and convenient to you.⁴

With warm personal regards.

Sincerely,

Lyndon B. Johnson

1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 294, Johnson/India, 1964–1965. Secret; Exdis. A typewritten note at the end of the letter reads: “Handed to Mr. David Schneider, NEA, 6–11–65 for delivery to Ambassador Nehru to be hand carried to PM Shastri in Canada.” The text of the letter was transmitted to New Delhi in telegram 2540, June 5, for delivery to Shastri prior to his departure for Canada. (Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, Shastri Correspondence)
2. Document 123.
3. Not printed. The text of this memorandum was also transmitted to New Delhi in telegram 2540.
4. The Embassy reported that the text of President Johnson’s letter was delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 6 and was received with the assurance that it would be passed on to Shastri before he departed for Canada. (Telegram 3567 from New Delhi, June 6; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 15–1 INDIA)