Posted on 06/30/2005 1:07:09 AM PDT by Gengis Khan
Associated Press WASHINGTON, June 29. — President Richard Nixon referred privately to Indira Gandhi as an ‘‘old witch’’ and national security adviser Mr Henry Kissinger insulted Indians in general, according to transcripts of Oval Office tapes and newly declassified documents. Nixon and Mr Kissinger met in the Oval Office on the morning of 5 November, 1971, to discuss Nixon’s conversation with Indira Gandhi the day before. ‘‘We really slobbered over the old witch,’’ Nixon told Mr Kissinger, according to a transcript of their conversation released yesterday as part of a State Department compilation of significant documents involving American foreign policy. Nixon’s remark came as the two men speculated about Indira’s motives during the White House meeting and discussed India’s intentions in the looming conflict with Pakistan. The USA was allied with Pakistan and saw India as too closely allied with the Soviet Union. ‘‘The Indians are bastards anyway,’’ Mr Kissinger told the President. ‘‘They are starting a war there.’’ Mr Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Indira at their meeting. ‘‘While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too,’’ Mr 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 US contacts with China, as facilitated by Pakistan, and American concern that India was developing nuclear technology. The archive covers US 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 those present at various meetings and quotes from conversations among Nixon, his aides and foreign leaders. ‘‘They see everything through a Cold War prism,’’ said Mr Bill Burr, a senior analyst at the National Security Archives at George Washington University. ‘‘It’s a wholly distorted view.’’ India-US relations were strained for decades as a result of Cold War alliances and have significantly improved only recently. The US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleezza Rice, visited India earlier this year and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will visit Washington in July.
Suman Guha Mozumder in New York | June 30, 2005 09:36 IST Last Updated: June 30, 2005 11:44 IST
Former US president Richard Nixon and his secretary of state Henry Kissinger did not have a good opinion of Indians in general, and of then prime minister Indira Gandhi in particular – and that is putting it mildly,
Kissinger referred to Gandhi as a 'bitch', and to Indians as 'bastards' in course of private conversations shortly after her visit to the US, just ahead of the 1971 Indo-Pak crisis.
According to transcripts of White House tapes and declassified documents made available as part of the State Department's Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, Nixon and Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House on the morning of November 5, 1971, to discuss the former's conversation with Gandhi the previous day.
The two discussed the India's possible motives and plans with regard to the crisis in what was then East Pakistan. Kissinger felt Nixon had achieved his objective, during his interaction with Gandhi. 'While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. . . . 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.'
Kissinger's opinion was that Gandhi had been thwarted in her objective: 'She would rather have had you give her a cool reception so that she could say that she was really put upon.'
'We really slobbered over the old witch,' Nixon says, on tape.
Kissinger felt that on matters of substance, nothing of importance had been conceded. 'You slobbered over her in things that did not matter, but in things that did matter, you didn't give her an inch,' he said.
Nixon and Kissinger agreed that during the next meeting with Gandhi, the approach to take was to be 'a shade cooler' and allow her to do more to carry the conversation than had been the case in the first meeting.
Nixon and Gandhi met in the Oval Office at 11:20 am November 5; also present were Kissinger and P N Haksar, then principal secretary to the prime minister.
Louis J. Smith, editor of the new volume of documentation for the FRUS series, notes that Nixon opened the conversation by discussing the objectives of his planned trip to China. 'Thereafter the conversation, which lasted an hour, became a diplomatic tour d'horizon, touching on many of the trouble spots of the world, but with scant reference to South Asia,' the note says.
Gandhi did not respond to Nixon's proposal of the previous day, to consider a withdrawal of Indian forces from the Pakistan border.
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/30nixon1.htm http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e7/
Nixon should have burned the tapes before their existence was widely known.
In fact, I can't understand why he didn't burn them! I mean, "every" tape had to be destroyed.
Not exactly the right time to have released them now that India and US are about to sign a 10 years defence pact. And calling Indira Gandhi an "old witch" isnt going to go down well with the present Congress government.
Seems more like a conspiracy.
The timing seems to be calculated to do as much damage to present policy as possible. Why else make this 30+ year or private conversation a public headline now?
==The USA was allied with Pakistan and saw India as too closely allied with the Soviet Union.
Given her relationship with the Soviets...
PS I doubt Kissinger's "the Indians are bastards" comment was directed towards the Indian people...he was most likely referring to the political leadership aligning against the Free World during the Cold War. BTW, I am NO FAN of Henry Kissinger...he worked against US interests re: the Cold War every chance he got IMHO.
It looks like the AP is trying to poison the goodwill well, just as we look to India as a counterweight to China.
AP is rooting for the communists.
"Given her relationship with the Soviets..."
People here at FR seldom realise that it was Nixons's tilt towards Pakistan that drove India to the Soviet camp. India wasn't allied to the Soviets right from the begining.
"he was most likely referring to the political leadership aligning against the Free World during the Cold War. "
---That political leadership was elected by the world biggest "Free World".
And America's cold-war allies (Pakistan and China) were never much of a "Free World" either.
==And America's cold-war allies (Pakistan and China) were never much of a "Free World" either.
Can't comment on Pakistan at that time, but drawing close to Communist China was a big mistake IMO.
Pakistan was a military dictatorship under General Yahya Khan.
The government of India at the time was on a rampage, provoking wars with Pakistan & China, and conquering what is now known as Bangladesh.
Thankfully for world peace, Nixon was able to dampen Indian ambitions. He was spot-on in his private remarks about the "leadership" of that nation at the time.
"and the world should be ever grateful to him that he did so."
...yeah 3 million dead/raped Bengalis are grateful to him.
Except for the "Islamics" part.
Those nutjobs just want to kill everyone without regards to political philosophy.
Provoking wars with Pakistan & China???Wow,now that's news for everyone.India has never launched a first strike in any of it's 5 major wars-1 with China & 4 with Pakistan.The Chinese attacked & conquered thousands of kilometres of Indian territory in 1962,while Pakistan launched strikes on Kashmir in 1965 & on Eastern India in 71,."Conquering Bangladesh"-umm I seriously wonder who thought you history??Bangladesh was the former East Pakistan-Nixon's buddy,Yahya was slaughtering millions of Bengalis,forcing several millions to flee to India in the largest refugee exodus since the Second world war.The Then Indian govt transferred power to Bangladesh's leaders in just a few years.
BTW,Im sure you believe the US also invaded Iraq???& Thankfully for world peace,Nixon gave the go ahead for military cooperation with People's republic of China-we will see how your prophecy stacks up in a decade.
make that "transferred power in a few months"
http://www.bangla2000.com/Bangladesh/war.shtm
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/history/independence.html
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/history/genocide.html
Forget it, he is a Cad :)
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