Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011
THEN
On November 27, 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru—the first prime minister of an independent India—delivers a powerful landmark speech appealing to the United States and the Soviet Union to end nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War. Nehru is known for pursuing diplomatic solutions to conflicts with other countries and he puts his ideology into action by advocating for nonalignment for India during the internationally polarized period of the Cold War. In his speech, Nehru says, nuclear disarmament would “save humanity from the ultimate disaster.”
NOW
Last week, the British auction house Mullock’s, auctioned off—for £1,500
(US$2,315.70)—a signed typewritten 1938 letter from Jawaharlal Nehru addressed to a German diplomat declining an invitation to visit Nazi Germany. In the letter, Nehru commented on his daughter’s health which prevents him from travelling far but then adds: “... in any event the present international situation would come in the way of my going to Germany. As you know I am not at all in sympathy with the Nazi philosophy and aims.”
