Prime Ministers Visit MIT
Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India visits MIT in 1949. Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
Liaquat Ali Khan, First Prime Minister of Pakistan visits MIT in 1950. Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
MIT’s Importance to the First Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan
The 1940s and 50s were a tumultuous period of revolt, conflict, and nation-building across Asia. China was on the brink of a Communist revolution, North Korea had invaded South Korea, the Philippines declared independence from the United States, and India and Pakistan were decolonizing after the end of British rule. It was against this backdrop of uncertainty and change in Asia that India and Pakistan sought their positions on the world’s stage after independence in 1947.
Anticolonial nationalists had hailed MIT as a “model” for India to follow as early as 1884. In 1945, almost 500 Indians applied for admission to the Institute, so strong was the belief that MIT training could transform their country. As India and Pakistan independently entered the global arena in 1947, it was imperative that the leaders of these two nations cultivate valuable relationships with a wide range of institutions and countries. Seeking partnerships in their projects of nation-building, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, visited the United States in October 1949 and May 1950, immediately after independence.
MIT was an important stop on both Prime Ministers’ itineraries. Hosted by then president of MIT, James Killian, Nehru and Khan met South Asian students and families in the Boston Area and delivered poignant and evocative speeches signifying the start of a historic new chapter redefining India and Pakistan’s relationship with the world.
Both Liaquat Ali Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru understood the crucial role MIT had played and would continue to play in shaping the global technological platform. As leaders of newly independent countries, they were aware that technology would be a key mechanism through which their nations could grow more powerful and overcome the poverty and strife of decolonization. MIT, a premiere institute for higher technological education, was unique in its international collaborations during a time of shifting powers, global turmoil, and American isolationism. The value MIT placed on the international, non-Western perspective allowed the first South Asian students to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Cambridge, enabled college visits by the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, and facilitated the inception of MIT-inspired technological institutions in post-colonial South Asia.
Nehru’s and Khan’s visits also came at a critical time for the United States; the Cold War had just begun and the US was galvanizing to lead the world against the rising tide of Communism, partly through cultivating allyships in countries near Russia. The question of whether post-colonial India and Pakistan would align with communism or democracy was at the forefront of public conversation in the United States when Nehru and Khan visited.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s Goodwill Tour, 1949
Prime Minister Jawarahal Nehru, Indian Ambassador to the US Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and US President Harry Truman, Washington DC, 1949. Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
Liaquat Ali Khan’s State Visit, 1950
Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan greeted by President Harry S. Truman on his arrival to the United States, 1950. Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library & Museum