INDO-US RELATIONSHIP LANDMARKS

 INDO-US RELATIONSHIP LANDMARKS

1941   President Franklin D Roosevelt roots for Indian independence.  He tells British  

           Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “India should be made a Commonwealth at   

           once. After a certain number of years-five perhaps or ten-she should be able to

           choose whether she wants to remain in the Empire or have complete

            Independence.”

1949   Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the first Indian Prime Minister to visit America.

1953   India and the United States are embroiled in an acerbic dispute over the Battle

           Act, which bars American aid to any country that traded in strategic goods

          With China.

1959    Eisenhower becomes the first American president to visit India.

1960    America signs a four-year, $1.27 billion PL-480 food agreement with India.

1966     Indira Gandhi travels to Washington and meets President Lyndon B Johnson.

            Although billed as a goodwill visit she admits to an associate that “my main

             mission is to get both food and foreign exchange without asking for them.”

1969     Richard Nixon becomes the second American president to tour India in a visit

             that’s believed by many to be the least productive by any US president.

1979    A year after Morarji Desai travels to the US, Jimmy Carter comes to India,

            visits a village in Haryana, which is later christened “Carterpuri”.

1985     Rajiv Gandhi goes on his first official tour of America; meets President

             Ronald Reagan.

2000     Bill Clinton becomes the fourth American president to come to India.

2005     Dr. Manmohan Singh visits America and the much debated nuclear deal is

             signed.

2006     Bush comes to India, agrees to support India’s nuclear power programme.

2009    Dr. Manmohan Singh visits Washington, the first foreign leader to be received

            as a state guest by the 10-month old Obama administration.