Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–7, Documents on South Asia, 1969–1972

277. Telegram 4075 From the Embassy in Iran to the Department of State¹ ²

Tehran, July 7, 1972, 2117Z

Subj:

• Secretary Connally Travel: Memorandum of Private Conversation With Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Governor’s Residence, Simla on July 5, 1972: Part I of VII: Summit Consultations

1. The meeting started promptly at 9:30 a.m. with no one present but the Prime Minister and myself. I started off by conveying President and Mrs. Nixon’s warm personal regards, having previously just presented the silver coin gift box to her. I told her how very much President and Mrs. Nixon had enjoyed her visit to the United States last year. She thanked me very much and asked me to convey her warmest regards to President and Mrs. Nixon. She recalled that Mrs. Nixon had given her a Boehm bird which she prized very highly and had it prominently displayed at her residence in New Delhi.

2. I told her that the President wanted me to convey to her whatever information she wanted concerning his visits to Peking and Moscow. I very quickly and in a fairly summary fashion went over the same ground that I covered with other heads of government. I made the following major points:

A. The President went to Peking and Moscow not for the purpose of entering into any trade arrangements or trying to create any commercial alliances. His purpose was to establish a dialogue with the hope that such communications would result in a lessening of tensions around the world and contribute to the solution of some of our problems and bring about an era of peace and tranquility.

B. Although problems relating to third countries were discussed, there was no attempt in any way to negotiate with respect to third countries.

C. The President made it clear to Premier Chou En Lai that we anticipated that we would be in Southeast Asia for some years to come.

D. The President told the leaders in Moscow that our position in Vietnam was quite well known and quite firm and that we would not permit the North Vietnamese to accomplish a military victory over their neighbors to the south.

E. I briefly outlined the fact that we had entered into a number of agreements with Moscow, all of which she was familiar with, so I did not elaborate on this subject.

F. It was the President’s earnest hope that these two trips might be the beginning of a dialogue and communication that would end in the resolution of many of the difficult problems facing the world today.

Connally

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 7 US/Connally. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Also designated CONTO 254. Sent with instructions to pass to Islamabad, New Delhi, Dacca, the White House for Davis, and Treasury for Dixon.
2. In the first of seven telegrams reporting on his conversation with Indian Prime Minister Gandhi in Simla on July 5, former Treasury Secretary Connally said that he opened the conversation by summarizing the results of President Nixon’s trips to Peking and Moscow.