Echoes of Indian National Movement in America

The attitude of the American people to the question of India’s freedom during our struggle for independence reveals many interesting aspects. Indian leaders looked to American support to their demand for freedom and fulfillment of their national aspirations. They did not want their view point to be distorted by either overstatement or understatement. It was obvious to them that the British Government was anxious to cultivate American public opinion and secure American approbation for their policy in India. This conclusion could easily be drawn from the British propaganda in America in connection with India. During the Second World War the American attitude to Indian Freedom upset and provoked the British statesmen. They castigated the Americans for making statements about India in which they emphasized and argued that ‘by our silence on India we have already drawn heavily on our reservoir of goodwill in the East’ Americans asserted and declared that ‘India is our problem.’ On the other hand, the Indians felt that the need for India’s freedom would be recognized by the wise men of the West as it was recognized by the wise men of the East. The present work analyses all these aspects of American attitude towards India’s freedom dispassionately.