"I Wouldn't Be A Friend Of India If I Agreed On Everything"
The nonagenarian on his tenure as Ambassador to India and his friendhip with Jawaharlal Nehru.
Few in public affairs have been more resolute in their friendship with India than John Kenneth Galbraith, a Padma Vibhushan in 2001 and 90 years old this October. Galbraith, the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, is the author of numerous critically acclaimed books, including The Great Crash (1955), The Affluent Society (1958), The Good Society (1996) and Name-Dropping (1999). In this exclusive interview with Rahul Sagar, he reminisces over his tenure as ambassador to India (1961-63) and his friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru. Excerpts:
Your first visit to India was a consequence of your fortuitous meeting with Professor Prasanta Mahalanobis. Had you ever thought of visiting India before that chance meeting?
The Affluent Society
Your first meeting with Nehru was reportedly somewhat stiff. How did your relationship with him develop between that meeting and your eventual appointment as ambassador?
Would you say that the 1962 Sino-Indian war was the single most important event of your diplomatic career given your significant involvement in addressing the crisis?
Thirteen Days
How close do you think we came to a new formal strategic understanding between India and America?
Would it be fair to say that Nehru enjoyed your friendship because it provided him a chance for social and intellectual companionship beyond the image of world statesman?
In Name-Dropping you write that your friendship with Nehru was based on conversation and books. What were the conversations about?
Can you recall the books that the two of you chose to discuss?
Laughs
Nehru shared a wonderful relationship with some of the most captivating women of his generation, including Jacqueline Kennedy. What was it about Nehru that allowed him to form these unique relationships?
Weren't these guests intimidated by his stature?
The first two meetings between President Kennedy and Nehru are infamous for their awkwardness.
What did Nehru make of his visit to the Kennedy White House? After all, following his first visit during the Truman administration, he was famously quoted as saying that "one should never visit the United States for the first time".
Would you say the India that awarded you the Padma Vibhushan is still the India that was Nehru's tryst with destiny? Nehru's vision of a secular India, for example, is under ferocious assault...
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