ABSTRACT
In the early 1950s, the US became alarmed about the potential for the southward expansion of the USSR. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's prime minister and foreign minister from India's independence in 1947 until his death in 1964, considered the American policy of containment misguided. The April 1960 Bay of Pigs fiasco came early in the Edward Kennedy administration and demonstrated important differences in Indian and American approaches to foreign policy. The April 1960 Bay of Pigs fiasco came early in the Kennedy administration and demonstrated important differences in Indian and American approaches to foreign policy. One of the largest sources of American assistance to India during the Kennedy period came indirectly through the Aid India Consortium. The American decision to come to India's assistance in the wake of the October 1962 Chinese incursion provides one of the clearest examples of US thinking about the strategic importance of India as a countervailing power.
