Chicago and the World Forum
Spring 2006 Series
"The Next Superpowers? China and India Rising"

The future of the U.S.-India relationship holds great promise. As two of the world’s most successful democracies, India and the United States are immensely important players in building stability and peace for the future. But what exactly is behind the sudden U.S. interest in developing a strategic relationship with India? What would such a partnership mean? Why is the nuclear deal so critical to that partnership? How does it relate to U.S. interests in Pakistan and India-Pakistan tensions? What role could a U.S.-India partnership play in the wider Asian balance of power? Join Thomas Pickering to discuss the India-U.S. relationship in the framework of great power relations.

Ambassador Thomas Pickering is senior vice president for international relations and a member of the Boeing Executive Council. He joined the company and assumed this position in January 2001 upon his retirement as U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs (1997-2001). As a career ambassador, Pickering’s diplomatic career spanned five decades. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He also served as executive secretary of the Department of State and special assistant to Secretaries William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger from 1973 to 1974. Pickering received a bachelor’s degree cum laude with high honors in history from Bowdoin College in 1953 and a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1954. In 1983 and in 1986 Pickering won the Distinguished Presidential Award and in 1996 the Department of State’s highest award—the Distinguished Service Award.

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