FOREIGN RELATIONS A New Bloom
Practically everywhere she went on her U.S. visit, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was smothered with roses, which are her symbol as well as her late father's. Lady Bird Johnson handed Mrs. Gandhi a dozen red American Beauties right after she disembarked from a helicopter on the White House lawn; later the Indian leader was variously presented with more red roses, yellow roses, artificial roses, an impressionistic painting of a rose and a gilded rose from Tiffany's. All of them could serve well to symbolize the result of her five-day visit: a new flowering in the relations between the world's two largest democracies.
President Johnson and Mrs. Gandhi, who had met before during the then Vice President's 1961 trip to India, hit it off well right from the start. Towering over the 5 ft. 2 in. visitor as they stood on the White House lawn, Johnson called for "that frankness and candor and detail that always mark conversations between good friends." He got it. "India and the U.S.," replied Mrs. Gandhi, "cannot and should not take each other for granted or allow their relations to drift." Later she said of the President: "He goes right to the point without a lot of chitchat beforehand. I like that. I like to talk business first and then have the pleasantries later if there is any time for them."
No Dancing. Starting with an hour-and-a-half get-acquainted talk in the White House, Johnson and Mrs. Gandhi had several private chats about India's domestic problems, the threat of Communist China and the presence of the U.S. in Southeast Asia. But there was plenty of time for pleasantries too. The President flattered Mrs. Gandhi by walking her home to Blair House half a block away, that night at a dinner in the White House described her as "not only a woman with an understanding heart but also a leader with a sense of vision." Wearing a gold-embroidered purple sari, her toenails painted red, Mrs. Gandhi chatted tête-a-tête with the President before and after the meal, left as soon as Violinist Isaac Stern finished his performance and before the dancing began. Explained she: "My countrymen would not approve if they heard I had been dancing."
Next day, in a talk before the National Press Club, Mrs. Gandhi showed more sympathy for the U.S.'s plight in Viet Nam than any other Indian leader had ever done before. "The Americans are in a difficult situation, and I can understand their difficulties now," she said. "I have been in my talks with Mr. Johnson impressed by the sincerity of the President's desire for a peaceful settlement in that war-torn country." Later, in a joint communiqué, the President and Mrs. Gandhi agreed that there should be a "just and peaceful solution of this problem" and that Red China's aggressive policies "pose a threat to peace, particularly in Asia." That night, calling at the Indian Embassy ostensibly to make a brief farewell visit, the President stayed so long talking with Mrs. Gandhi that he was finally invited to remain for the black-tie dinner. "I'm happy to be asked," said the business-suited Johnson, thus causing a protocol scramble and breaking his own practice of never accepting reciprocal invitations from state visitors.