Posted on 06/29/2005 8:17:38 AM PDT by velocityguy
Nixon Called Indira Gandhi an 'Old Witch' By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer Tue Jun 28, 6:59 PM ET
WASHINGTON - 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. concern that India was developing nuclear technology. The archive covers U.S. policy in South Asia in 1971 and 1972.
The documents, many declassified only earlier this month, generally cover old ground, several Cold War scholars said. Still, the particulars are intriguing, including rosters of who was in various meetings and quotes from conversations among Nixon, his aides and foreign leaders.
"They see everything through a Cold War prism," said Bill Burr, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. "It's a wholly distorted view."
U.S.-India relations were strained for decades as a result of Cold War alliances and have significantly improved only recently. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited India earlier this year, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Washington in July.
On the Web:
State Department documents: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e7/
Who the heck cares. Can't the media find something that matters today to write about?
For those who actually had to live during the Cold War, perhaps not.
Jeeze let's Impeach Nixon NOW!! OH WAIT - He's dead! Never mind! This is ridiculous!
If the broom fits.
She was and she led the country. Just like Neutered Newt's momma called the First Lady Hitlery a b*tch. She was and still is.
Earth to Yahoo News: Nixon resigned more than 30 years ago and he's been dead for 11. And why is Monica and White Water 'old news'?
Right. Indira was playing both ends against the middle during the cold war conflict between the US and Soviet Union. Lots of other nations did too. India was the most populace country to waffle and to toy with the US during critical times. Like the man said, if you lived through the cold war, you know how significant true allies were and how really disturbing it was for large, strategically petitioned, poor and unstable countries to approach negotiations with the US in such an inimical manner as did India. For the record, Nassir earned himself just such a reputation as well.
that;s 'strategically positioned'
if they can't attack the current administration maybe they'd do better looking back 30 years at a dead president in a different historical context.
Bill Burr was probably still in Pampers when Nixon was dealing with the Old Witch, and is wholly unqualified to comment on anything unless it is to say "WAH-WAH, CHANGE ME PLEASE"
Yep, 1971 is where I go for the latest news. /s/
Nixon called Indira Gandhi an 'old witch' (we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1432653/posts
Nixon. Gotta love him!!
True. Guess that's why we were informed that Lincoln was gay too. Liberals are sooo tiresome.
That is exactly my point too.
Are the libs in the Media still mining those old Nixon WH tapes? Do they think any of this is still relevant? Don't get me wrong, if this were put in proper context by a qualified historian, maybe. But merely throwing out an embarrasing Nixon anecdote or 2 every year....it's just tiresome.
From all the things my Dad tells me - he was Indian - I couldn't agree with Nixon more. She was nothing moe than a socialist, goodfernuthin, bitch..
Nixon was right, she was a witch, but at least she was already dead when they burned her.
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