Series Part III II: India and Nepal Correspondence, 1951-1953

Series

Call Number: MS 628, Series Part III II

Scope and Contents

India and Nepal Correspondence consists of correspondence with individuals and organizations located in India and Nepal. It is divided into two subseries:

l) General Correspondence

2) U.S. Mission in India and Nepal

Bowles was Ambassador to both India and Nepal, but the material in this series is generally about India. Since there was no embassy in Nepal at that time, technical cooperation activities and U.S. information programs for Nepal were administered through the U.S. Mission in New Delhi. For material specifically on Nepal, see: "Nepal, Government of" under General Correspondence, in this series; and theU.S. Missionfiles here, specifically the "Embassy political section", "TCA Nepal" and "USIS Nepal" folders.

1). General Correspondence Bowles' correspondence with officials of the Indian and Nepalese governments, American businessmen, clergy, journalists, and other foreigners working in India or Nepal. While the bulk of Bowles' correspondence with Indian nationals remained in the Mission when Bowles left India, what was considered his most important Indian correspondence was kept as part of this file. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

Correspondence with members of foreign diplomatic missions in New Delhi is filed under the heading, "Diplomatic Missions in Delhi," and then alphabetically by country. Correspondence with the Prime Minister or officials in the executive departments of the Indian government (for example, Jawaharlal Nehru or Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit) is filed under the heading "Government of India." Members of the Indian Parliament, and state and local officials are filed by name. The correspondence of Nepalese officials is filed under the heading, "Nepal, government of."

The General Correspondence also contains correspondence with the Ford foundation and Rockefeller Foundation offices in India, as well as the U.S. Educational foundation in India, which often worked cooperatively on development programs with the U.S. Mission.

The file on the Karaka-Karanjia forgery case documents the attempt by Indian editors, one pro-Communist and the other anti-Communist, to discredit Bowles by publishing a forged letter. Of interest also are letters received from Americans reporting on their experiences in India, which are filed under the writer's name. Since Bowles used these letters in writingAmbassador's Report, the complete list of writers will be found with book material in Part IV, Box 178, folder 1040.

note: For monthly commentaries prepared for Bowles on Indian correspondence received by the Embassy but not kept as part of Bowles' files, see: Box 103, folder 389, in the U.S. Mission-Ambassador's Office, files.

2) U.S. Mission in India and Nepal: Bowles' correspondence, in the form of memoranda and reports, with the U.S. Mission in New Delhi and Kathmandu, Nepal. It reflects his involvement in all phases of U.S. activity in both countries. The U.S. Mission comprised three branches: the Embassy, the Technical Cooperation Administration (TCA), and the U.S. Information Service (USIS), whose functions were coordinated by Bowles. Internal Mission memoranda which Bowles received or sent, are organized under these three headings;

A. The Embassy: Materials relating to the various offices or "sections" of the Embassy, as they are called, are arranged alphabetically as: "Ambassador's Office", "Economic Section", "Political Section", etc. The "Ambassador's Office" files contain memoranda between Bowles and his office staff, including his special assistant Edward J. Logue, who remained in India for several months, after Bowles left in March 1953, arranging for the disposition of Bowles' files. (For the Logue-Bowles correspondence after Bowles left India see the Logue folder listed in Part IV, General Correspondence.) The "Ambassador's Office" files also contain items such as memoranda of Bowles' conversations while Ambassador, appointment books, trip files, mailing lists, and a few folders of background reference material. In addition, this section contains Mrs. Bowles' records concerning household and entertaining expenses, such as guest lists, memoranda and Mrs. Bowles' appointment books.

In the files of the "Political Section" are reports on India, Kashmir, and Southeast Asia, as well as a folder of memoranda about Nepal. After September 1952, Jean Curran of the Political Section coordinated correspondence between U.S. officials in Nepal and Washington, and prepared summary memoranda on Nepal.

B. Technical Cooperation Administration: Indo-U.S. official agreements on the aid program, budget estimates, and significant documents recording the establishment of the TCA program which rapidly became one of the largest and most varied of all U.S. foreign economic development programs. The files for Clifford Willson, the Country Director of TCA and his two deputy directors, Henry Niles for administration and Bernard E. Loshbough for the Community Development Projects program supplement these documents, as do TCA files such as the agricultural section, the audio-visual program, the community development projects. The weekly reports from the TCA Legal Counsel to Washington give summaries of developments in the TCA program.

The TCA Nepal Country Director, Paul Rose, sometimes reported on political developments in Nepal as well as on the TCA program there since there was no U.S. Embassy in Nepal.

For TCA photographs of India and Nepal, see Part IX.

C. The United States Information Service: Bowles made creative use of the U.S.I.S. publications such as theAmerican Reporter, libraries, films, radio and of Indian press contacts to promote greater knowledge of the U.S., the U.S. aid program and U.S. foreign policy. U.S.I.S. also collected and analyzed Indian press comment and Communist propaganda in India.

A small U.S.I.S. program in Nepal was conducted through the U.S.I.S. library in Kathmandu, since there was not yet a formal U.S.I.S. office there. The correspondence includes some comments on Nepalese politics as well as on U.S.I.S. matters.

note 1: notes and numbers on some items in the U.S. Mission files may correspond to notes and lists filed with material forAmbassador's Reportin Part IV, particularly the letters of TCA field technicians reporting on their experiences.

note 2: For names of U.S. personnel, by title or section, see the following list.

U.S. Mission in India and Nepal: personnel, by title or section

USE=The Embassy

TCA-I=Technical Cooperation Administration (India)

TCA-N=Techhical Cooperation Administration (Nepal)

USIS-I=United States Information Service (India)

USIS-N=United States Information Service (Nepal)

Bailey, Daniel, USIS-I, "The American Reporter," Library, Press and Information Section

Bartlett, Arthur C., USIS-I, Press and Information Section

Bowles, Chester, USE, Ambassador's Office

Bowles, Dorothy Stebbins, USE, Ambassador's Office

Childs, Prescott, USE, Consulate General-Bombay

Corry, Andrew, USE, Minerals Attaché

Cramer, Martin, TCA-I, Training and Exchange Program

Curran, Jean A., Jr., USE, Political Section

Dammann, Nancy, USIS-N, Library

Deimel, Henry, USE, Economic Section

Drumright, Everett, USE, Political Section, Consulate General-Bombay

Fleck.B.A., USE, Political Section

Frye, Ted, USE, Political Section

Grondahl, Teg C., USIS-I, Chief Public Affairs Officer

Haggerty, William J., TCA-I, Education

Hancock, Robert A., USE, Administrative Section

Hersey, Evelyn, USE, Social Welfare Attaché

Joyce, Jean, USIS-I, "The American Reporter"

Krene, Joseph I., USIS-I, Films Section

Kust, Matthew J., TCA-I, Legal Counsel for South Asia

Ladejinsky, Wolf, TCA-I, Land Reform

Ladenheim, H.C., TCA-I, Tube Wells and River Valleys

Lawrence, Henry, USE, Foreign Buildings Operations Section

Loftus, John A., USE, Economic Section; TCA-I, Economic Advisor

Logue, Edward J., USE, Ambassador's Office

Loshbough, Bernard, TCA-I, Deputy Director for Community Development Projects

Manshardt, Clifford, USIS-I, Cultural Affairs Section

Mills, Sheldon, USE, Minister-Counselor(Deputy Chief of Mission)

Moore, George, TCA-N, Health and Malaria Control

Neilsen, Agnes, USE, Ambassador's Office

Niles, Henry E., TCA-I, Deputy Director

Parsons, Kenneth, TCA-I, Land Reform

Poleman, Horace, USIS-I, Cultural Affairs Section

Potter, Zenas, USIS-I, Publications Section

Ralston, Donald, USE, Administrative Section, Personnel Officer

Robb, E.C., USIS-I, Library

Rose, Paul, TCA-N, Acting Country Director

Rossow, Robert, USE, Consulate Generals-Madras; USIS-N, Library

Rutter, William, USIS-I, Publications Section

Sannebeck, Norvelle, USE, Administrative Section

Sewall, John K., TCA-I, Audio-visual Aids

Sokolove, Henri, USE, Labor Attaché

Steere, Loyd, USE, Minister-Counselor(Deputy Chief of Mission)

Taylor, Clifford, USE, Agricultural Section

Taylor, Robert, USE, Consulate General-Madras

Thompson, A.N., TCA-I, Tube Wells and River Valleys

Warner, Estella Ford, TCA-I, Health Advisor and Malaria Control Program

Whitney, Patricia, USE, Ambassador's Office

Wilkins, Fraser, USE, Political Section

Willson, Clifford, TCA-I, Country Director

Wilson, Evan, USE, Consulate General-Calcutta

Dates

1951-1953

Physical Description

(18 boxes)

Conditions Governing Access

From the Collection: Boxes 220-223, which contain constituent correspondence, are restricted until 2035 Jan 1.

The transcript of the oral history interview with Douglas Bennet, Jr. in Box 399b is closed until the deed of gift is secured from Bennet.

Box 408, which contains restricted personal and financial papers is closed until 2025 Jan 1.

Box 409, which contains audio tapes of oral history interviews with Bowles's associates, is not open to researchers.

Original audiotapes, videotapes, and motion picture films, as well as preservation and duplicating masters, may not be played. Researchers must consult use copies, or pay for the creation of a use copy, retained by the repository, if none exist.