The United States and India's struggle for nonalignment: 1947-1956

World War II devastated most of the world in general; Europe, East and Southeast Asia in particular. West Europe looked to the United States for reconstruction and received generous assistance, thereby went under American sphere of influence. For its part, the Soviet Union, twice invaded from the west, began to build a defense along its western border and therefore established a total control over East Europe. Thus began an era of heightened tension between the two superpowers--an era that came to be known as the Cold War.;In Asia, after World War II, Japan went under American occupation, and European colonial regimes returned to East and Southeast Asia.;Against this background, India emerged from colonial rule in 1947. Mindful of their domestic concerns, India's leaders emphasized internal consolidation and development and refused to follow either superpower in its Cold War planning. Anxious to consolidate their respective positions, both Washington and Moscow viewed such a policy of nonalignment as against their interests.;A few events that took place in 1955 changed that situation. In that year, the Soviet Union abandoned its covert activities in most of the Third World countries and tried to win them over by extending economic assistance. The United States did not have a large economic assistance program for these countries. Caught unawares for a moment by the new Soviet drive, Washington soon looked for ways to counter it. The result was increased American economic assistance to the developing nations in general, and India in particular. New Delhi's development efforts, carried out through democratic methods, became a model for the "free world" as opposed to Chinese totalitarian methods. The years, 1955-1956, therefor marked a turning point in Indo-American relations.;This works studies the course of Indo-American relations during the tortuous decade between 1947 and 1956. It is also one of the first ones of its kind based on archival and government documents in India and the United States.