page_title: John Sherman Cooper
section_title: Ambassador to India
hierarchical_section_title: John Sherman Cooper / Ambassador to India
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Factual corrections and alternative descriptions are encouraged separately from the original description. Additionally errors can be reported at this page to inform the Bundesarchiv. Alemannisch&#160;| Boarisch&#160;| беларуская&#160;| беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| català&#160;| čeština&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| suomi&#160;| français&#160;| हिन्दी&#160;| hrvatski&#160;| magyar&#160;| italiano&#160;| 한국어&#160;| македонски&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| polski&#160;| português&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| sicilianu&#160;| slovenčina&#160;| slovenščina&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| 中文&#160;| 中文（简体）‎&#160;| 中文（繁體）‎&#160;| +/− Original historic description:&#160; Indien, Otto Grotewohl bei Ministerpräsident Nehru Zentralbild/Heilig 27.1.59 Ministerpräsident Grotewohl bei Ministerpräs bcggffd grdetsfgsdeident Nehru Ministerpräsident Otto Grotewohl und der indische Ministerpräsident Nehru trafen am 12.1.59 zu einer Unterredung zusammen. Das Gespräch währte drei Stunden und verlief sehr herzlich. UBz.: Ministerpräsident Nehru (links) im freundschaftlichen Gespräch mit Ministerpräsident Otto Grotewohl (links im Hintergrund) der Stellvertreter des Vorsitzenden des Ministerrates und Minister für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten, Dr. Lothar Bohlz. Abgebildete Personen: * Grotewohl, Otto: Ministerpräsident, stellvertretender Staatsratsvorsitzender, DDR * Nehru, Jawaharlal Pandit: Premierminister, Präsident der Kongresspartei, Indien
context_page_description: John Sherman Cooper was an American politician, jurist, and diplomat from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served three non-consecutive, partial terms in the United States Senate before being elected to two full terms in 1960 and 1966. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 1955 to 1956 and U.S. Ambassador to East Germany from 1974 to 1976. He was the first Republican to be popularly elected to more than one term as a senator from Kentucky and, in both 1960 and 1966, he set records for the largest victory margin for a Kentucky senatorial candidate from either party.
  Cooper's first political service was as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1927 to 1929. In 1930, he was elected county judge of Pulaski County. After a failed gubernatorial bid in 1939, he joined the U.S. Army in 1942. During World War II, he earned the Bronze Star Medal for reorganizing the Bavarian judicial system after the allied victory in Europe. While still in Germany, he was elected circuit judge for Kentucky's 28th district. He returned home to accept the judgeship, which he held for less than a year before resigning to seek election to A. B.
context_section_description: In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower nominated Cooper as U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. During his time as a delegate for the United Nations, Cooper had met Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and established a cordial working relationship with the Indian delegation, including Nehru's sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. The Indians had been impressed with Cooper and the Indian government had expressed their desire that Cooper serve as their ambassador from the U.S. Cooper initially rejected the offer of the Indian ambassadorship from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles but was convinced to accept it by a personal request from President Eisenhower. The Senate confirmed Cooper's nomination on February 4, 1955.
  India had only become an independent nation in 1948, and it was considered a potential bulwark against Communism in Asia. U.S.–India relations were strained, however, because of India's recognition of Communist China, its opposition to the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), and its resistance to foreign interference in Indochina. U.S. News and World Report described the ambassadorship as "one of the most difficult and delicate in all the diplomatic world".
  Cooper married Lorraine Rowan Shevlin on March 17, 1955, in Pasadena, California, just ten days before leaving for India. Twice divorced, Shevlin was the daughter of Robert A. Rowan (a wealthy California real estate developer whose projects included the Hotel Alexandria and the Security Building), step-daughter of Vatican official Prince Domenico Orsini, and a well-known socialite. She was fluent in three languages and understood Russian.  The two had dated for much of the 1950s, but Cooper was hesitant to marry because he had doubts about moving into Shevlin's elaborate Georgetown home. (While in Washington, the unmarried Cooper permanently resided in the Dodge House Hotel.) The move to India removed this barrier, and Secretary of State Dulles encouraged Cooper to marry her before leaving so that the U.S. embassy in New Delhi might have a proper hostess. On April 4, 1955, the couple stopped in England on their way to India to visit with Louis Mountbatten, the last Governor-General of India prior to India's achieving its independence. Their discussions about the situation of the Indian people were part of the scant preparation Cooper received before arriving there.
  Cooper began his service as ambassador by developing a close friendship with Prime Minister Nehru. Nehru's respect and admiration for Cooper soon became widely known. Cooper labored to help officials in Washington, D.C. understand that India's reluctance to align with either the West or the Communists in China and the Soviet Union was their way of exercising their newly won independence. At the same time, he defended the U.S. military buildup after World War II, its involvement in the Korean War, and its membership in mutual security pacts like NATO and SEATO as self-defense measures, not aggressive actions by the U.S. government, as the Indians widely perceived them. Cooper condemned the Eisenhower administration's decision to sell weapons to Pakistan, which was resented by the Indians, but also felt that the Indian government took some political positions without regard to their moral implications. By late 1955, the Chicago Daily News reported that Indo-American relations had "improved to a degree not thought possible six months ago".
  In a joint communique dated December 2, 1955, U.S. Secretary of State Dulles and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Cunha condemned statements made by Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Soviet Party Chairman Nikita Khrushchev during an eighteen-day tour of India. Of particular interest was the communique's reference to "Portuguese provinces in the Far East". This phrase referred to Goa, a Portuguese colony in western India. Although most European nations with holdings near India had granted them to the new independent nation in 1947, Portugal refused to surrender Goa, and the region had become a source of conflict between the two nations. The joint communiqué
caption: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Cooper became close friends.
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