John Sherman Cooper - Ambassador To India

Ambassador To India

In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower nominated Cooper as U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. During his time as a delegate for the United Nations, Cooper had met Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and established a cordial working relationship with the Indian delegation, including Nehru's sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. The Indians had been impressed with Cooper and the Indian government had expressed their desire that Cooper serve as their ambassador from the U.S. Cooper initially rejected the offer of the Indian ambassadorship from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles but was convinced to accept it by a personal request from President Eisenhower. The Senate confirmed Cooper's nomination on February 4, 1955.

India had only become an independent nation in 1948, and it was considered a potential bulwark against Communism in Asia. U.S.–India relations were strained, however, because of India's recognition of Communist China, its opposition to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), and its resistance to foreign interference in Indochina. U.S. News and World Report described the ambassadorship as "one of the most difficult and delicate in all the diplomatic world".

Cooper married Lorraine Rowan Shelvin on March 17, 1955, in Pasadena, California, just ten days before leaving for India. Twice divorced, Shelvin was the daughter of a wealthy California real estate developer, step-daughter of Vatican official Prince Domenico Orsini, and a well-known socialite. She was fluent in three languages and understood Russian. The two had dated for much of the 1950s, but Cooper was hesitant to marry because he had doubts about moving into Shelvin's elaborate Georgetown home. (While in Washington, the unmarried Cooper permanently resided in the Dodge House Hotel.) The move to India removed this barrier, and Secretary of State Dulles encouraged Cooper to marry her before leaving so that the U.S. embassy in New Delhi might have a proper hostess. On April 4, 1955, the couple stopped in England on their way to India to visit with Louis Mountbatten, the last Governor-General of India prior to India's achieving its independence. Their discussions about the situation of the Indian people were part of the scant preparation Cooper received before arriving there.

Cooper began his service as ambassador by developing a close friendship with Prime Minister Nehru. Nehru's respect and admiration for Cooper soon became widely known. Cooper labored to help officials in Washington, D.C. understand that India's reluctance to align with either the West or the Communists in China and the Soviet Union was their way of exercising their newly won independence. At the same time, he defended the U.S. military buildup after World War II, its involvement in the Korean War, and its membership in mutual security pacts like NATO and SEATO as self-defense measures, not aggressive actions by the U.S. government, as the Indians widely perceived them. Cooper condemned the Eisenhower administration's decision to sell weapons to Pakistan, which was resented by the Indians, but also felt that the Indian government took some political positions without regard to their moral implications. By late 1955, the Chicago Daily News reported that Indo-American relations had "improved to a degree not thought possible six months ago".

In a joint communiqué dated December 2, 1955, U.S. Secretary of State Dulles and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Cunha condemned statements made by Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Soviet Party Chairman Nikita Krushchev during an eighteen-day tour of India. Of particular interest was the communiqué's reference to "Portuguese provinces in the Far East". This phrase referred to Goa, a Portuguese colony in western India. Although most European nations with holdings near India had granted them to the new independent nation in 1947, Portugal refused to surrender Goa, and the region had become a source of conflict between the two nations. The joint communiqué seemed to indicate U.S. recognition of Portuguese sovereignty in Goa, which undercut Cooper's assurances to the Indians of U.S. neutrality in the matter. Cooper himself did not know about the communiqué until he read an account of it in the Indian media and was therefore unprepared to offer an explanation for it when asked by the Indian Foreign Secretary. Cooper's cable to Washington, D.C. about the matter was reported to have been "bitter", although the contents of the cable have not been released.

The Dulles–Cuhna communiqué touched off anti-American demonstrations in many parts of India. On December 6, Dulles held a news conference during which he reaffirmed U.S. neutrality on the Goa issue, but did not recant claims of Portuguese sovereignty over the region. Prime Minister Nehru announced his intent to file a formal protest with the United States over the communiqué and to address the Indian Parliament about the matter. In the interim, Cooper secured a meeting with Nehru and forestalled both actions. Cooper became even more upset with Dulles when Dulles authorized withholding $10 million of a $50 million aid package to India; Cooper protested the withholding, and Dulles decided to pay the full amount.

Throughout the early part of 1956, Cooper strongly advocated that the U.S. respect Indian nonalignment and increase economic aid to the country. In August 1956, Congress approved a financial aid package for India that included the largest sale up to that point of surplus agricultural products by the United States to any country. Cooper's persistence in requesting such aid was critical in getting the package approved, as it was opposed by many administration officials, including Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover, Jr., Treasury Secretary George M. Humphrey, and International Cooperation Administration Director John B. Hollister.