Jawaharlal Nehru’s Goodwill Tour, 1949
Two years after India’s independence and Partition, Jawaharlal Nehru came to MIT in 1949 during a three-week goodwill tour of the United States. At the height of the Second World War in 1942, President Roosevelt had invited Jawarahal Nehru to the United States, but Nehru turned down the invitation, lamenting, “we were in great difficulties at that time in India”. Although Nehru was not an official state guest during his 1949 trip to the United States, he still began fostering relationships between India, the US government, and institutions of higher education that continued to grow for decades after.
On October 12th, 1949, one week before his visit to MIT, Nehru went to Capitol Hill seeking support for India’s postcolonial rebuilding efforts. At the time, President Harry S. Truman declined his request for US economic aid to India. Nehru would return three more times to the United States during his term as Prime Minister and eventually secure economic support for India in 1956.
Prime Minister Nehru laughing with Indian students in Boston Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Prime Minister Nehru with his sister, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Indian Ambassador to US, and MIT's President James Killian Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Primie Minister Jawaharlal Nehru shaking hands with MIT President James Killian Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Following his visit to Washington D.C., Nehru arrived in Boston to visit MIT. President Killian invited Indian students and families in the Greater Boston area to attend a reception in honor of India’s first Prime Minister. Thirty five MIT Indian students, including notable figures such as Amar Bose and Lord Swaraj Paul, were among the invitees. Nehru, aware of the Indians present in his audience, addressed them directly. He commended these young citizens of India for studying engineering and tasked them with the responsibility of reopening the window between India and the world through technology. Switching to Hindi in the middle of the speech, Nehru further emphasized the duty these first Indians at the Institute had to help their nation with the knowledge they gained at MIT: “You who return as engineers, electricians, specialists in mechanical fields, will do untold good for your nation. It is in those fields we are the weakest.”
Invitation sent to Indian students and families in the Boston area for Prime Minister Jawarahal Nehru’s reception.
Article published in the Daily Boston Globe on Oct 22, 1949 detailing Prime Minister Nehru’s visit to Boston and MIT. In addition to a description of his speech at MIT, the piece also highlights Nehru’s visit to Wellesley and dinner with William Phillips, the previous ambassador to India.
Following the first of his multiple visits to the United States, Nehru transformed his vision for an international collaboration with India into a reality. MIT and several other notable institutions of higher education formed the highly successful Kanpur Indo-American Program that supported the development of IIT-Kanpur, which was modeled after American technological institutions but sought to specifically address the needs of post-colonial India. Aware of the unique perspectives afforded by an MIT education, Nehru engaged with Indian MIT alumni to create opportunities for them to return to their homeland and help rebuild the new nation.
Nehru Needs Loans to Get India Established, Boston Globe Oct 21, 1949
" In addition to MIT, Nehru also visited UW Madison during his Goodwill tour. In his speeches at both colleges, Nehru emphasizes that he did not come to the US to seek help and resources for India. Rather, he wisely spends both visits explaining the position of India in the current world and its relevance to the United States. As the leader of a nation that was removed from global discourse for centuries, Nehru utilized his speeches to reframe the narrative of India’s colonial past, present revival, and future power. Delivered to an audience of technologically-focused students, Nehru’s inspirational and thought-provoking words likely motivated the many Indian students present to utilize their education to revolutionize their home country. His presence also created connections between India and two hubs of education in the East Coast and Midwest that were critical to securing future economic and technological support from the US for India. " - Amulya Aluru, 2023, SM 2024, Student Researcher