190. Letter From Indian Prime Minister Gandhi to President Carter1
I am deeply touched by your taking the trouble, in the midst of multifarious problems, to send a personal note in addition to the usual message.2
Sanjay’s special role was not his support to me, important as it was, but the manner in which he was able to harness our youth to constructive purposes in a world where there are so many other pulls.
Your sympathy has special value for it is my own and my Government’s desire to improve our relations with the United States of Amer [Page 492] ica. As I wrote in one of my earlier letters,3 the circumstances of history, geography and tradition are so different in our countries that it is not always possible to see problems from the same angle. However, this need not stand in the way of friendship and wide-ranging cooperation between us.
Unfortunately there seem to be groups and individuals in your country, and perhaps elsewhere, who do not wish this. Anyone in public life has to be immune to criticism and I have long got used to it, but the pattern of reporting on India in the press and media in the U.S.A., and almost all over the Western world, reveals what seems to be a persistent and concerted campaign of misrepresentation and the deliberate propagation of stories and image-casting which have little, if any, base in actuality. Certain prestigious institutions have become centres of activity against our party, and to propagate the interest of other Indian political parties.
It is not my intention that you should in any way interfere with the freedom of your press or academic institutions but I thought that I should mention that this is of considerable concern to the Indian people, who are made to feel that America does not care for our friendship.
Ambassador Goheen asked me to pursue the question of the American hostages with the Iranians.4 Our views on this issue are clear. International relations will be impossible if the principle of diplomatic immunity and safety is so quickly and easily violated. There is also the human side of the problem. Those who are thus confined in discomfort and fear have our full sympathy as have their families in their long and anxious vigil.
You are passing through troublesome times and are fortunate to have a loving and capable family to support and cheer you. My greetings to them.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 28, India: 7/80–1/81. Personal.↩
- After the June 23 death of her son in a plane crash, Carter sent Gandhi a message of condolence, no copy of which has been found. In message WH52741/Sitto 105 to Venice, June 24, Dodson forwarded a message from Thornton to Brzezinski arguing that Carter’s message “was a pretty pro forma affair” and suggested that Carter might send “a more personal note, perhaps handwritten. Aside from the political advantage, the human factor should also be considered. The lady has just had much of her life’s work destroyed in a way that is hard for a non-Indian to understand.” Thornton’s draft note reads in part: “The task before you in leading your people is undiminished and you have lost an important support. At such times we can only look to our God and to the strength that we have within ourselves. I know that your great courage will not forsake you and that divine help never does. There is nothing that I can say or do that will help you in your sadness, but in a very personal sense as a parent, my thoughts are with you at this difficult time.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Outside the System File, Box 57, Chron: 6/13–30/80)↩
- See Document 175.↩
- In a July 11 memorandum to Carter, Christopher reported that, in a July 10 meeting between Goheen and Gandhi, Goheen requested “that the Indian Ambassador in Tehran be instructed to help influence a speedy resolution of the hostage situation, and Mrs. Gandhi seemed amenable to this request.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, President’s Daily CIA Brief File, Box 29, 7/11/80–7/15/80)↩