Office of the Historian

309. Summary Record of Conversation Between President Johnson and Prime Minister Gandhi1

Washington, March 29, 1966.

Following the five o’clock meeting between the President and Prime Minister Gandhi, the President reported to the assembled group of advisers2 in the Cabinet Room that he had gone over the food message to Congress with the Prime Minister. He indicated that he would review the message with the Senate leaders at 6:15 p.m. that day and with the House leaders the next day. He hoped to get it approved for submission by noon on the thirtieth. The President reported that the Prime Minister had read the message but had not commented on it. He asked Ambassador Nehru to review it.

The President, the Prime Minister and the advisers reviewed and approved the draft communiqué,3 with the addition of a paragraph in which Mrs. Gandhi formally extended an invitation to President Johnson to visit India. The President thanked Mrs. Gandhi for her invitation and expressed the hope that conditions here and in India would permit acceptance of it.4

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, Vol. VII, Memos and Miscellaneous, 1–8/66. Secret. No drafting information appears on the record, but according to an April 5 memorandum from Saunders to Bromley Smith, Handley and Laise prepared it. (Ibid.)↩
  2. For a list of the advisers involved, see footnote 2, Document 307.↩
  3. For text of the joint communiqué issued on March 29, see Department of State Bulletin, April 18, 1966, pp. 603–604.↩
  4. On March 31 Johnson sent a personal message to Gandhi in New York expressing his pleasure in their conversations in Washington and adding “how much we value your friendship.” (Telegram 2324 to USUN; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 7 INDIA)↩