Nation: Jimmy's Journey: Mostly Pluses

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"When I was growing up on a farm in the state of Georgia, in the heart of the southern United States, an invisible wall of racial segregation stood between me and my black playmates. It seemed then as if that wall between us would exist forever." With his audience hushed, Carter continued: "But it did not stand forever. It crumbled and fell. And though the rubble has not yet been completely removed, it no longer separates us from one another, blighting the lives of those on both sides of it." That breakthrough came, Carter said, largely because Martin Luther King Jr., "a spiritual son of Mahatma Gandhi," had taken "Gandhi's concepts of nonviolence and truth-force—and put them to work in the American South."

At the insistence of Desai, who wanted to show that his government cares deeply about raising rural living standards, Carter and his wife visited the village of Daulatpur (pop. 1,907), about 15 miles south of New Delhi. It had temporarily been renamed Carter-Poori (Carter-Place) in the American's honor. After receiving the Hindu religious tilak mark on their foreheads, the Carters met villagers. A woman of 80, squatting against a white courtyard wall, did not stir as the President was introduced to her. Carter lightly held her hand. "You see now how they live," said Desai. "I see," said Carter. "I understand."

For the most part, Carter and Desai got along well as they discussed international economics, relations with the U.S.S.R. and superpower rivalries in the Indian Ocean. One impressed Indian official said of the talks that Carter "went through 75 minutes, without notes, and he showed a total command of all the problems he raised." The one disagreement was over Carter's insistence that India must be ready to comply with a law that Congress is expected to pass requiring on-site inspection of any nuclear materials the U.S. sells to other nations. Desai just as adamantly insisted that as a matter of "self-respect" India cannot accept such inspection—at least until the U.S. and U.S.S.R. start reducing their own nuclear stockpiles. Carter agreed to sell India the heavy water and uranium that it needs for its nuclear reactors. Whether a sharp letter from Secretary of State Vance will follow is now uncertain because of the overheard remark. Asked what he would do if he received such a letter, Desai said diplomatically, "I would not regard it as cold or blunt."

India's refusal to accept U.S.-dictated safeguards on nuclear materials to prevent their being used in the production of weapons contrasted with Iran's attitude. In Tehran the week before, the Shah agreed to accept such controls, and Carter in turn approved Iran's request to buy up to eight American nuclear reactors. If the sale did not seem to square with Carter's nonproliferation policy, the White House could argue that, to the contrary, it gave the U.S. new leverage in applying safeguards.