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Only 6 US Prez visits in 67 yrs
As President Barack Obama embarks on his second trip to India in four years to be the chief guest for Republic Day, it\'s noteworthy that only six US presidents have visited India in 67 years since independence.
Washington: As President Barack Obama embarks on his second trip to India in four years to be the chief guest for Republic Day, it's noteworthy that only six US presidents have visited India in 67 years since independence.
Top level exchanges between world's largest and the oldest democracies began with India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visiting the US in 1949. But it took another ten years for Washington to return the call with President Dwight D Eisenhower going to India in December 1959.
John F Kennedy, who succeeded Eisenhower, could not visit India, but sent vice-president Lyndon Johnson in 1961. Richard Nixon came calling as President in July 1969, six months after assuming office, to ease tensions with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The two never really hit it off with Nixon taking a hostile stand against India during the 1971 Bangladesh war.
It would be another nine years before Jimmy Carter became the third US president to visit India in January 1978. It was another 22 years before Bill Clinton came in March 2000 to take out the chill from India-US relations since India's second set of nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1998. In many ways, this was a turning point in Indo-US ties that were earlier termed as "estranged democracies".
George W Bush, who was the fifth US President to visit India, in March 2006 with first lady Laura and estasblished a rapport with Manmohan Singh. Barack Obama, in November 2009 became the second US president after Nixon in 1969 to visit India in his first term in office. Now is set to notch two more firsts. He will be the first US President to be the chief guest at India's Republic Day celebration as also the first to visit India twice while in office.
By: IANS
