283. Telegram 4081 From the Embassy in Iran to the Department of State1 2
Subj:
- Secretary Connally Travel: Memorandum of Conversation With Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Governor’s Residence, Simla, July 5, 1972: Part VII of VII: Personal Observations
1. My personal observation about the visit to Simla are as follows: First of all Mrs. Gandhi was very relaxed and looked well, although she said she was very tired, not having had even one day off the past year. During the course of our discussion, she was not sharp or acrimonious in any of her comments. While many of her comments were frank they were not of an offensive or belligerant nature. Nor was there any inflexion in her voice reflecting anger or resentment. On the contrary, her entire attitude was friendly and extremenly courteous even bordering on kindness. When the meetings broke up, the photographers approached her and asked us to take a stroll in the garden. Again she was quite relaxed and easy to talk to. When I asked her if she enjoyed being in Simla and what did she do here, she said she used to ride quite a bit but still walked when in Simla. She didnt like to walk on the plains where the weather “was hell.” I commented on a bed of lupin which looked like the blue bonnet—the Texas state flower. We strolled around the garden for 10 minutes or so in which she commented she loved flowers, but didn’t have a green thumb. She had once enjoyed garderning, but unfortunately she had married a man who [Page 2] was much better at it than she was and he told her to stay out of the garden and arrange the flowers in the house. So her career as a gardener had been short-lived. All in all, it was an extremely amiable meeting in which she was very gracious.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 7 US/Connally. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Also designated as CONTO 260. Sent with instructions to pass to the White House for Davis, and Treasury for Dixon.↩
- Former Treasury Secretary Connally reported that Indian Prime Minister Gandhi’s attitude was pleasant and courteous throughout the conversation, even when the exchanges became rather frank.↩