Ambassador’s Journal
by John Kenneth Galbraith
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During his time as an adviser to President John F. Kennedy, Galbraith was appointed as US Ambassador to India from 1961 to 1963. His rapport with President Kennedy was such that he regularly bypassed the State Department & sent his diplomatic cables directly to the President. In India, he became an intimate of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, & extensively advised the Indian government on economic matters; he harshly criticised Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British rule, for show more Mountbatten's passive role in the Partition of India in 1947 & the bloody partition of the Punjab & Bengal. While in India, he helped establish one of the 1st computer science departments, at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Even after leaving office, Galbraith remained a friend & supporter of India & hosted a lunch for Indian students at Harvard every year on graduation day. Because of his recommendation, First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy undertook her diplomatic missions in India & Pakistan. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The best such journal I have ever read--and the best insights into the Kennedy years and the early years of the Vietnam War. Galbraith was an insider and a visionary who saw what was coming in Vietnam, but who was listening?
1056 Ambassador's Journal: A Personal Account of the Kennedy Years, by John Kenneth Galbraith (read 16 June 1970) I have slogged through this account of Galbraith's years as Ambassador to India (1961-1963). He is very literate and appears to be extremely capable. Would I had his self-confidence! The book is merely a journal he kept while Indian Ambassador: but it brims with nice touches. It ends, as all these Kennedy books do, in extreme poignancy: "The ceremony at Arlington was the most heartrending time of all. The sky was blue and bright, and one had the impression of a day that had very little to do with death. People were massed on the hillside with flowers scattered everywhere. There was a prayer by Cardinal Cushing, not eloquent show more but full of emotion. The 21-gun salute sounded and the muskets fired from the brilliantly polished ranks of soldiers, sailors, and Marines. The music from the band was impressive and the playing of Last Post almost unbearably so. At the end the flag was folded and given to J. B. K. It was over." show less
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Author Information
81+ Works 11,206 Members
John Kenneth Galbraith is a Canadian-born American economist who is perhaps the most widely read economist in the world. He taught at Harvard from 1934-1939 and then again from 1949-1975. An adviser to President John F. Kennedy, he served from 1961 to 1963 as U.S. ambassador to India. His style and wit in writing and his frequent media appearances show more have contributed greatly to his fame as an economist. Galbraith believes that it is not sufficient for government to manage the level of effective demand; government must manage the market itself. Galbraith stated in American Capitalism (1952) that the market is far from competitive, and governments and labor unions must serve as "countervailing power." He believes that ultimately "producer sovereignty" takes the place of consumer sovereignty and the producer - not the consumer - becomes ruler of the marketplace. (Bowker Author Biography) John Kenneth Galbraith, born in 1908, is the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard University and a past president of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Economic Association. He is the author of thirty-one books spanning five decades. He has received honorary degrees from, among others, Harvard University, Oxford University, the University of Paris, the University of Toronto, and Moscow State University. He is Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur in France, and in 1997 he was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2000, at a White House ceremony, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Publisher Provided) show less
All Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Ambassador’s Journal
- Original publication date
- 1969
- People/Characters
- John F. Kennedy; John Kenneth Galbraith; Jawaharlal Nehru
- Dedication
- In memory of the President and Prime Minister who graced these years - and my life.
- First words
- In the Autumn of 1960, after John F. Kennedy had called to tell me that I was to be his Ambassador to India, I decided it would be an interesting time and that I would keep a full account of what happened.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction, History, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 327.2 — Social sciences Political science International Relations Diplomacy
- LCC
- E183.8 .I4 .G3 — History of the United States United States History Diplomatic history. Foreign and general relations. Relations with individual countries
Statistics
- Members
- 222
- Popularity
- 146,168
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 16
