441. Letter From President Johnson to Prime Minister Gandhi1
Dear Madame Prime Minister:
The frankness and informality of your letter2 and of my recent meeting with Mr. L.K. Jha recall the warmth of our talks during your visit here a year ago. I agree wholeheartedly that there is no substitute for these personal exchanges.
This is why I am especially tempted by your gracious invitation to visit India again. No journey could give me greater pleasure, for Mrs. Johnson and I treasure memories of our last visit. Regrettably, I think it unlikely that we shall be able to make this trip in the months immediately ahead. As we look a bit further into the future, however, I hope it may be possible.
The year since your visit has been exceedingly busy for us both. We have each had our share of satisfactions and disappointments. These are inevitable given the problems we face.
Your letter suggests that perhaps your greatest satisfaction these past twelve months has been the mature, responsible way in which so many million Indians demonstrated the strength and vitality of Indian democracy by participating in India’s fourth general election. You have a right to be proud, especially in view of the natural calamity which has afflicted many regions of India. I know the drought has added greatly to your burdens and caused you great personal sorrow.
All friends of India share both your pride and your grief.
I continue to follow closely your food situation. The Consortium meeting in Paris was an important step in meeting both the short range and longer term aspects of this problem. While you still have much to do in encouraging other governments to participate fully in both the food and the economic aid programs, I believe you have started down a new path which offers hope. We will continue to work at your side and expect soon to release additional wheat now that others have taken substantial steps toward matching our effort.
You must also find satisfaction in the measures your government has taken during the past year to give greater emphasis to agriculture, to carry out massive countrywide family planning programs, to liberalize [Page 853] imports and to relax controls over industrial investment and production. I am confident that pressing along the course set by these new policies can bring India to its goal of a self-reliant economy and a rising standard of living.
My government will continue to do its share in the international effort to support India. But I am sure you know that our ability to help will depend in considerable measure on whether both India and Pakistan can contain—and even reduce—military spending. Further increases in defense spending by your government and Pakistan’s would make it far more difficult for me to mobilize support for economic development in either country. I know you want to hold down defense spending, and I believe President Ayub is motivated by a similar resolve.
On my side, I think that my greatest satisfaction recently has come from those signs which hold out the possibility of a relaxation of world tensions—even a slight relaxation. We have concluded the Outer Space Treaty3 and made some progress in negotiating a non-proliferation treaty. In this great effort—which will help determine the kind of world in which our children and grandchildren will live—we welcome the constructive support of India.
That is why we were especially glad to see Mr. Jha at this time. As you know, I have long been aware of India’s security problems vis-à-vis hostile China. Obviously, your country’s concern has increased since October 1964, when the Chinese exploded their first atomic device. I stated publicly then that the United States is willing to extend its strong support to any country which has chosen not to use its nuclear technology to build weapons if that country should be threatened with nuclear weapons. I can understand why you have raised the question with the major nuclear weapons states of making clear their concern and intentions in this connection.
As I told Mr. Jha, I am deeply interested in the trend of his discussions in Moscow, including the illustrative text of a possible Soviet declaration on nuclear assurances. My advisers and I are carefully exploring the possibilities in this approach, and we will be in touch with you.
Our great and continuing disappointment in this past year is that the relentless efforts we have made to find a peaceful and honorable resolution of the Vietnam conflict have thus far failed to evoke a corresponding response from the other side. The United States stands for peace and justice with honor, and I shall continue to pursue peace. A [Page 854] just solution, of course, cannot be one which denies the right of our Vietnamese friends to independence and self-determination, without external coercion. I would hope that those nations which share a stake in these precious principles would support my country’s efforts to find an honorable peace.
With warmest good wishes.
Sincerely,
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Head of State Correspondence File, India, Vol. I, Prime Minister Gandhi Correspondence, 1/11/66–9/12/67. No classification marking. Transmitted to New Delhi in telegram 192874, May 11. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL INDIA–US)↩
- Document 436.↩
- Reference is to the treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space signed in Washington, London, and Moscow on January 27. The treaty entered into force on October 10. (18 UST 2410)↩