Gaganvihari Lallubhai Mehta

Indian diplomat

Gaganvihari Lallubhai Mehta (1900–1974) was the ambassador of India to the United States from 1952 to 1958.

Biography

Metha was son of Lallubhai Samaldas, he graduated from Bombay University before studying at the London School of Economics.^[1] He worked at the assistant editor of the Bombay Chronicle from 1923 to 1925 before working for the Scindia Steam Navigation Company.^[1] After India gained its independence from the United Kingdom, he became the president of the Tariff Board before becoming the ambassador of India to the United States from 1952 to 1958.^[2]^[1]

Mehta was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1959. He was refused service in a Houston airport restaurant because he was not white, leading John Foster Dulles to conclude that US segregation was hurting foreign relations.^[3]

Political offices
Preceded by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit	Indian Ambassador to the United States 1952-1958	Succeeded by M. C. Chagla

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Howson, S. (2011). Lionel Robbins. United States: Cambridge University Press. p87-88
^ "Chandrika Srivastava, Nikhil Basu Trivedi". The New York Times. 13 January 2019. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
^ G.L. Mehta: A Many Splendoured Man by his daughter, Dr. Aparna Basu (Concept Publishing, 2001)., Indianapolis Recorder August 27, 1955, [1][2] Archived 9 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine