Ten months ago, cannon boomed hollowly in Kathmandu, capital of the small (54,000 sq. mi.), ancient kingdom of Nepal on India's northeastern frontier, to signal the opening of diplomatic and trade relations between that country and the U.S. (TIME, May 12). It was a great event. For centuries, the Nepalese had dealt diplomatically only with Britain, occasionally with the Chinese.
Last week, for the first time in history, a Nepalese ventured officially into the Western Hemisphere. He was Commanding General Kaiser Sham Shere Jung Bahadur Rana, who came to Washington to present his credentials as Nepal's first Minister Plenipotentiary to the U.S.
His name was infinitely more imposing than his appearance. Fifty-six-year-old General Kaiser is a bare 5 ft. 2 in. tall. Nevertheless, he is a big man — a leader of fierce Nepalese troops in both World Wars, a noted archeologist honored by the French for digging around in Gautama Buddha's birthplace near Nepal's border. Between wars he was Nepal's Foreign Minister, mayor of Kathmandu and director general of archeology.
With the general came his beauteous wife, black-haired, alabaster-skinned Rani Kaiser, 33 years his junior, and their 3½-year-old daughter Tani (Nepalese for "tugger").
While presenting his credentials to President Truman at the White House, General Kaiser repeated the 17th Century aphorism* about an ambassador being an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country, added that he preferred to believe that an envoy was dispatched to speak the truth. Replied the President: "A great pleasure. . . ."
There was no mention of the military aid which Lieut. General Albert Wedemeyer had strongly urged five months ago (TIME, Oct. 20). The program was admittedly aimed only at "a limited objective," could do no more than provide "a respite from rapid economic deterioration." Said Harry Truman: "Nothing which this country provides by way of assistance can, even in a small measure, be a substitute for the necessary action that can be taken only by the Chinese government."
No Lack of Advice. But if Harry Truman seemed resigned to failure, Secretary of State George Marshall was crisply defiant. Appearing two days later before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he explained exactly what that "necessary action" should be. Said Marshall in plain, undiplomatic language: "It is fundamental . . .to develop a basis of government [in China] not restricted to a small group and to clean up waste and corruption. But even more important, it must give definite, active consideration to the land problems of the peasantry. . . . This is critical from a purely military point of view. You can't win guerrilla warfare with the people against you."