Posted on 06/28/2005 4:23:45 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Nixon Called Indira Gandhi an 'Old Witch'
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer 21 minutes ago
President Nixon referred privately to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as an "old witch" and national security adviser Henry Kissinger insulted Indians in general, according to transcripts of Oval Office tapes and newly declassified documents released Tuesday.
Nixon and Kissinger met in the Oval Office on the morning of Nov. 5, 1971, to discuss Nixon's conversation with Gandhi the day before.
"We really slobbered over the old witch," Nixon told Kissinger, according to a transcript of their conversation released as part of a State Department compilation of significant documents involving American foreign policy.
Nixon's remark came as the two men speculated about Gandhi's motives during the White House meeting and discussed India's intentions in the looming conflict with neighboring Pakistan. The United States was allied with Pakistan and saw India as too closely allied with the Soviet Union.
"The Indians are bastards anyway," Kissinger told the president. "They are starting a war there."
Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Gandhi in their meeting.
"While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said. "She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."
Other documents chart U.S. contacts with China, as facilitated by Pakistan, and U.S. conc
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That guy was a mess.
She was an old witch. And a stinkin' commie too, who kept India in poverty for an extra generation longer than it needed to be.
Because he spoke frankly in private with Kissinger? Oh please. Let's tape all your phone conversations I'm sure you show the utmost respect for every single person you meet. India at the time was a pro Soviet pain in the neck.
I never liked her.
.
A week aftet Monica-gate broke, Matt Lauer said it was 'old news'. But they never get tired of bashing RMN.
Selfish, power-mad, and petty.
People say the same thing about me. I'm a mess. I guess you could say it takes one to know one. But then, I don't tape all my inappropriate conversations. That's a little kinky.
Well, she was the Indians' problem, and the Indians did sort it out eventually.
On that one I agree. Nixon did it for historical purposes and apparently many presidents did. I would think it's a hinderance to frank discussion and should not have been done as a common practice. I've listened to some of these tapes on c-span. Nixon and Kissinger were consummate foreign policy pros and calling a leader a name in private conversation is no big deal. Indira Ghandi's great claim to fame was as Ghandi's daughter, but she certainly came off as a cold aristocrat. And India did "liberate" Bangladesh and oppose the U.S. on most matters at the time.
Nixon was a political genius and a patriot. The pinks still can't get over the fact that he nailed Hiss, and that history shows him to have been right.
Indira wasn't Mahatma Ghandi's daughter - she was Jaharwalal (sp.?) Nehru's daughter. Changed her name for effect.
They never get tired of kicking Nixon do they?
Oh, and "cold aristocrat" is a pretty good description. "Haute bourgeoisie elitist" might be closer - the ersatz Gandhis were middle class, and Indira hated the traditional royalty and nobility.
Thank you for the education on that point, didn't know it. In that case she had even less claim to fame and was an imperious unlikable leader.
Glad I could help. I read a book fairly recently, and was quite surprised to find how harmful her rule was to India's long-term development, and also how personally unlikeable she was.
Not quite. Gandhi is a very common caste-related name (grocery merchant, if I recall), and Indira married a man with that name.
Thanks for the correction - faulty memory on my part.
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