In the past two decades most discussions about Indian foreign policy dealt with the nature and limitations of nonalignment. The discussions usually had an air of remoteness. In American perceptions, India as a policy area was peripheral to America's immediate political and strategic interests. Even when humanitarian motives were invoked as factors for political consideration there was a feeling that India was too bulky, too riddled with immense problems. Thus, Americans were never sure whether intimate political ties with India were probable or even desirable from America's point of view. If this was the general picture accepted by liberals in America, conservatives asserted that India was “wishy-washy” toward the Communist bloc. India's refusal to join the American alliance system confirmed this suspicion.