U.S. Policy Toward India

In the 1950s and 1960s,the world was in a bipolar pattern of a cold war between the capitalist camp led by the United States and the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union.During the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union,in order to curb the expansion of each other's forces,they all exported their own values to the world,especially the third world countries,in an attempt to dominate the world.Among them,India,the largest country on the South Asian continent,has pursued a non-alignment policy since independence,but it still has a high position in the strategic layout of the US-Soviet competition.Therefore,in the 1950s and 1960s,US policy on India,especially food aid,was to serve India's "popular hearts" in the cold war with the Soviet Union.In the 1950s and 1960s,US food aid to India was mainly conducted under the guidance of the "Public Law 480" during the Eisenhower Administration and the "Food for Peace Program" actually implemented during the Kennedy Administration.Among them,the "Food for Peace Program" is the inheritance and development of the "Public Law 480".It no longer emphasizes the main purpose of food aid as the "Public Law 480" is to deal with the country's agricultural excess capacity(although the Eisenhower government is not just for this One purpose is more to fight for India in the Cold War).Instead,it directly stated that it would use the remaining agricultural products of the United States as a diplomatic weapon,turn these grain "bombs" into grain "bullets",and serve the United States in obtaining the strategic benefits of the Cold War by assisting other countries,especially third world countries.India is one of the important recipient countries.This article uses the United States to decrypt archives,government publications,and draw on previous research results,trying to take a peek into the US-Indian policy on food aid in the 1950s and 1960s from the perspective of the US-Soviet Cold War,revealing the relationship between food aid and the US And the significance of the entire Cold War process.This article considers the following materials: First,the US policy toward Indiain the 1950s and 1960s,especially food aid,was a comprehensive consideration of competing with the Soviet Union for India in the US-Soviet Cold War international environment.Second,India used its "non-alignment policy" to mediate between the United States and India,which played a great role in the contention between the United States and the Soviet Union in South Asia during this period.Third,the US food aid to India has indeed greatly promoted the recovery and development of the Indian economy and improved the people 's living standards.Therefore,under the large-scale food aid,the relationship between the United States and India gradually increased from tension to close.Fourth,due to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in India and even throughout South Asia,this period was not only complicated between the United States and India,but also the United States,the Soviet Union,India,Pakistan and the entire Cold War pattern.