India-U.S. Relations in the Late 1960s and in the First Half of the 1970s

This MA thesis titled as - India-U.S. Relations in the Late 1960s and in the First Half of the 1970s - focuses on mutual relations of the U.S. on one side and India on the other. It elaborates various events, which influenced these relations during the late 1960s and in the first half ot the 1970s. The result of this work is the confirmation that the U.S., in its foreign policy strategy, strictly followed the principle of realpolitik. Thanks to that their interests, however, often collided with those of India. Its effort of rapprochment with the PRC, during which Pakistan played an important role as the main communication channel between both countries, was a 'thorn in the side' of India's top officials, including its Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The U.S. foreign policy, which was mainly in hands of the National Security Advisor of President Richard Nixon Henry Kissinger, had to logically prefer an alliance with Pakistan. This, of course, was not welcomed by India because these two Asian countries waged several wars against each other and had strained relations since their birth. Thus, in spite of the fact that India might seem as the best American partner, given its strong democratic principles, the opposite was true. Nixon/Kissinger, in defiance of all obstacles, did not relent and remained firm..